


Return of the Intangible Starslip

by J_A_Phillips



Series: J.A. Phillips' Starverse [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Drama, F/F, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Superhero - Freeform, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Original Superheroine, POV Female Character, POV Lesbian Character, POV Original Character, POV Original Superheroine, Superheroine, Teen Romance, Teenage Superhero, Teenagers, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2019-07-18 10:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16117001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_A_Phillips/pseuds/J_A_Phillips
Summary: 1950s-style gangsters. Superhumans causing havoc. Hormone-fueled teenagers. It can only mean one thing: The Return Of The Intangible Starslip! But this time, the odds are stacked firmly against her, as a group of Superhumans begin attacking Star Lake. The hunt for the truth behind these attacks will introduce new friends and foes, and bring about whole new revelations that will change life in Star Lake forever!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome everyone to the Return of the Intangible Starslip! If you're new to the character, feel free to check out her origin story, The Intangible Starslip. And, as always, feel free to give me feedback on the story, and be sure to check out what comes in the future.

Okay, can I just start off by asking one thing, for any older folks listening? What did you wanna be when you grew up? No, seriously, I know it might be kind of a dumb thing to ask, but I really wanna know. Actually, back that up. Is the thing you wanted to be when you grew up the thing you are now? I can almost guarantee it isn't. Why? Because a lot of times, life throws you some pretty bizarre twists and changes that lead you down a path you didn't foresee happening, so your life goals had to change along with them.

Now, here's the weird thing, though: Even though I just said that, and life most DEFINITELY threw me an unforeseen twist, I still somehow managed to be what I wanted to be when I grew up. I still managed to find myself doing what I always wanted to do. I got to be someone who helped people who couldn't help themselves, like my mom and dad did. And I didn't even have to wait that long to do it. I started at age 16. Still, if you asked me if this was how I foresaw it happening, I could tell you this: Never in my wildest freaking dreams. And I once had a dream where I traveled through space in a rocket made out of cheese... ... ...I MAY have been sick that night.

And that exact thought was going through my mind one day a few months after said change rocked my world. I had just finished up taking notes in Sex Ed class, my last class of the day, and had a good five minutes or so to just sit and daydream. And whereas my old Sex Ed daydreams used to consist of thoughts relating to my girlfriend and what I'd learned in class (and they still do a little), nowadays, they more revolve around my after-school patrols. And it was right then that THIS thought hit me:  _Wow. This really IS my life from now on, huh? I'm a superhero. Someone who stops crimes and protects the innocent and all that jazz...That is SO awesome!_

Oh yeah, for those of you just tuning in, I'm a superhero. I call myself Starslip, but you can call me Cassie. A few months ago, I found out I had superpowers when I accidentally made my body as hard as steel and broke the leg of a bully that was harassing me. After that, I found out my body could do a lot of other crazy stuff, too. So, my girlfriend, who is a HUGE comic nut and superhero fan, talked me into becoming a superhero. And I gotta admit, I was REALLY against the idea at first, but the more I got involved with the gig, the more I found myself loving it. It's not always easy, and there are some days I wish I could just hide under my sheets and never have to deal with it, but, it's a way to do what I've always wanted. Like I said, though, how I got to this point wasn't even close to how I pictured it. And I'm pretty sure I knew that being a superhero was gonna throw me plenty of whole new, unexpected curves. But, for right then and there, I was enjoying the prospect. Little did I know, though, just how crazy the next week of my life would be...but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with what happened that day first.

So, like I said, I was mostly thinking of my after-school patrol. Something I've done every day after school since getting my powers. Some days, there's not even much of any crime going on, beyond the occasional petty theft. Heck, I've even found the time to get kittens out of trees. Mostly, it's just a reminder to all the criminals in Star Lake that I'm around, keeping an eye out for any kind of dastardly activity. Either way, though, I was so preoccupied with thoughts of my next patrol that I barely even heard the bell ring. If wasn't so worried about keeping my identity a secret, I'd have grabbed all my stuff and literally flown out of the building. As it was, I think I hurried out a bit too fast.

And there she was, waiting for me at the front door of the school, looking my way with a great big smile that lights up my life. Those brunette locks I always wanna play with. Those green eyes peering through her glasses that I could just get lost in. My Olette. My best friend and my girlfriend all rolled into one awesome package.

"Hey O!" I declared, running up and hugging her. "How was badminton?"

"Well, I think I know why it starts with the word 'Bad', anyway," Olette snarked as we headed out the door. "But I'm getting better. I just need to work on my overhead a little bit. So, excited yet?"

I rolled my eyes a little. "Oh, I dunno, sweetie. I mean, I wasn't the first time you asked if I was excited for my birthday coming up, or the time after that, or even the time after that, but now, after the 69th time you've asked me that, I THINK I'm starting to be a little bit."

Oh yeah, did I mention that my 17th birthday was coming up? Because it was, in one week from that day. It was something that had been hammered into my skull pretty hard for well over a month beforehand, which is pretty impressive since I can make my skull as solid as steel. I guess Olette and even my dad were making a big deal about it since it was my first birthday since I'd started work as Starslip. To me, though, 17 wasn't really that big a deal. It was just one year short of 18. That's about it. Wasn't really looking forward to it any more than any other birthday I'd ever had, and yet they were making it out to be huge.

"Yeah, well just wait until you see what Scotty and I have been making for you," Olette replied. "It'll make all the other birthday presents I've ever gotten you seem like-"

"HEY!" the two of us heard a few feet away.

Looking over, Olette and I spotted the source of the yelling: A very familiar-looking trio of girls picking on someone. It was the same posse of idiots who once stuffed me in a locker, up to their old crap. They'd knocked the books out of some poor girl's arms, and had pushed her down onto her knees. She was kind of a thick-bodied girl with glasses and short brown hair with blonde streaks. I recognized her right away as a new student in my art class: Renee. She'd just moved here from down south.

My fist clenched as I watched this, and I could already feel the mass in it increase. Olette must've somehow noticed it, too, because she immediately grabbed me by the arm and shook her head. I let myself breathe a little, calming down. Okay, so I wasn't going to punch anyone's lights out, especially not with my powers. I'd already learned not to pull stuff like that before, in probably the one thing I did that first week as Starslip that I wish I could take back. Still, I had to do something. These were the same group of bullies who watched while we were getting knocked in the dirt by-

"Hey, knock it off, Louise!" another voice called out, just as a certain redhead shoved her way in between the new head of the posse and their target.

Louise, a cerulean-haired girl, scoffed. "Oh, so now you're BREAKING UP our fun, Charlotte?! It's bad enough you lost your nerve and went goodie-goodie, but this?! You used to be fun!"

"I'm not too goodie-goodie to kick your ass, Louise," Charlotte threatened, getting up close to her old friend.

"Try it," Louise offered. "Unless you're afraid you'll break your leg again."

Glancing back to Olette, the two of us gave a quick nod, right before I interjected myself next to Charlotte. "She said 'back off', Louise!"

"Yeah, don't you guys have anything better to do with your lives?!" Olette demanded, finishing our little protective triangle around Renee.

Louise growled a little, glaring holes through each and every one of us standing between her and her group's victim. But, within a couple of seconds, she was already backing up, along with her friends. I guess they weren't too keen on having to deal with a fair fight. They all decided to make their way to the school buses, filing in with the rest of the students.

I let out a small sigh, recognizing the situation was over, before turning to face Charlotte. Part of me was having trouble digesting the idea that Charlotte Sampson, the same girl who made my life hell just a few months ago, who was pretty much the living definition of the word bully, who was the one harassing me the day I got my powers, was now breaking up fights and protecting the victims of bullying. THAT seemed more like I was living in some insane dream world than me having superpowers did.

Charlotte must've caught my astonished look, because she immediately gave me that 'stop looking at me that way' look. "...What? They were being total bitches."

"Hey, not complaining," I replied. "Saved me having to stop them all by myself."

"Yeah, I'm sure they'd be terrified of the blonde girl so compact that she fits in her locker with ease," Charlotte teased with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, that part of our relationship hasn't changed. It's okay, though, I get my licks in plenty of times. And I knew she was just kidding. She knew I could handle myself, possibly in more ways than one. I kinda had an encounter with her in costume once when I was just getting started, and...well, she never SAID outright if she knew it was me or not, and I wasn't about ready to ask. But, that IS the point where our relationship pretty much changed forever.

"Here, lemme help you up," I heard Olette say to my classmate. "You'll be okay. Just stay away from chicks like that, and you should be fine." Renee gave a shaky nod before taking off, leaving Olette to then face Charlotte. "So...THAT was surprisingly noble of you. Trying to change up your image?"

"Something like that," Charlotte admitted, crossing her arms and looking far less amused. "Y'know, I get trying to look tough for your girlfriend, but you should really stay outta fights like that."

"Yeah, 'cuz I'm gonna start taking life advice from YOU now," Olette replied with a scoff.

"I MEAN it," Charlotte pressed on. "You're not a fighter, Runnels, and you never have been. Stop pretending like you are, before you get yourself hurt."

"When I want your opinion, Char-" Olette started to say, getting a bit angrier, before her phone started pinging. Hearing it, she fished her phone out and gave it a look, her eyes widening in surprise. She quickly looked back up to Charlotte and gave her a dismissive scowl. "...We'll finish this later. Cassie, that was my Mom asking about our 5 o'clock."

I swear, at that point, I could feel the blood in my body rushing a LOT quicker than normal. See, ever since I started my "new job", Olette and I have been coming up with codes for different scenarios that could come up, so that we could talk about them around other people without letting them know what we were talking about. And this was one that we'd had planned for since my second night on the job, after a certain someone I was trying to catch got away and went underground to avoid being caught by police.

"...Right, where'd she say we should meet her?" I asked, my toes curling a little in my shoes.

"Levitz Street, right near that new corner shop," Olette answered. "But I've gotta go help a friend with their computer. You wanna go ahead and meet her there first?"

"Sure, I'll see you there," I said before leaning in for a kiss, whispering in her ear, "Keep a lock on her."

Olette gave a small nod before we both split, leaving Charlotte behind. Not sure what she thought was going on, nor did I care. Right then, I cared about one thing: Finding the closest alleyway dumpster I could crouch next to and stash my book-bag behind while I got changed into my "work clothes". Luckily, as I'd learned pretty quickly since becoming a superhero, that wasn't hard. Pulling my black, purple, and yellow costume out of the bag, I made my body go intangible, sending my school uniform to the ground as the costume fell downward, replacing my clothes as my body returned to its usual solid state. Once that was done, I put on my boots, belt, and mask, and put my school uniform into my book-bag before tucking it behind the dumpster. With all of that done, I ran out of the alley and rocketed up into the sky.

_Get ready, Fonzie,_  I thought as I flew toward Levitz Street.  _The Intangible Starslip is on your tail, and this time, you are NOT getting away!_


	2. Chapter 2

I felt myself accelerate quickly as I made my way to Levitz Street. According to Olette, that was where Fonzie's getaway car was last spotted. I'd later find out that she was contacted by police after someone identified her after meeting with some money launderer and called the police. Just like we thought would happen, she got sloppy, and a little too bored hiding out underground. Now, she was on the run from cops in broad daylight. What she didn't know yet, though, was that she was on the run from something much worse: ME. And she was NOT getting away.

Just as I thought that, though, I heard the distinct sound of a gun going off a couple of blocks away. I grit my teeth hard. Was it so much to ask that no other criminals pull any kinds of stunts at that exact moment? And yeah, I have to admit, much to my shame, that I honestly considered ignoring the gunshot and continuing after Fonzie...for about a second. Then I banked hard to my right and flew in the direction of where I heard the gunshot.

I wanted to scream at the idiot when I saw him. I wanted to smack him silly for this. Here I was, chasing after my arch-nemesis, and this moronic man decided that today...Actually, scratch that, THIS VERY MOMENT, was when he was going to get a gun and go hold up a BURRITO STAND. But, I didn't scream at him. I didn't smack him silly. I didn't even really hit him at all. I DID, however, swoop down, grab him by the collar, yank his gun out of his hand, and force him to look me in my very unamused eyes.

"...I SO do not have the time for this crap right now," I said in as stern a voice as I could before crushing his gun in my hand and dropping it and the man down onto the pavement. "You get off with a warning this time. Don't let me catch you doing this again."

I flew off as quickly as I could, barely hearing the crook yell obscenities at me that I will not repeat here. I headed back toward Levitz Street, and within a few moments, I found myself coming up toward the place Olette described. No signs of Fonzie. I was about to grab my cellphone and text O, asking which way Fonzie was headed, when I heard a pretty distinct explosion a few blocks ahead. In retrospect, I probably should've seen that coming.

Flying in the direction of the explosion, it didn't take me long to find the source of it: A burning police car, slammed into a mail box. I flew down next to it, and I could see the police officer trying to get out, but the car door wasn't cooperating for some reason. Without spending a lot of time to contemplate it, I phased my arms into the car before letting my hands go solid again. Ignoring the horrible cramping happening in my arms, a side effect of trying to make multiple parts of my body change their mass or cohesion at the same time, I waited for him to grab my hands in his before turning them and him intangible and pulling the officer out of the burning wreck. Lucky for me, I can make whatever I touch the same weight I am at the time, which was not a heck of a lot right then, so I could easily lift the much larger cop into the air before I turned us both solid again and let him touch down a safe distance away from the car.

"You alright?!" I asked, getting a quick nod. "You're sure?!"

"Yeah...!" the officer replied, letting himself breathe normally again before pointing down the street. "She's headed that way! We're trying to set up a road block, but she's got that damned grenade launcher of hers!"

"I'm on it!" I yelled before taking off again, satisfied that the cop was okay. I usually tried to make sure that the Star Lake police and I had a good working relationship. After all, the last thing I needed to be seen as was some masked vigilante working outside the law and causing more trouble for them. I wanted them to know that I was their friend and ally, and most of all, I wanted to make sure they weren't scared of me. The day I first put on my cape and costume, it was a hard fact that Superhumans, people with powers and abilities beyond those of ordinary human beings, were real. And that can be pretty terrifying, as they learned when one such Superhuman tore through their squad cars that night and had to be brought down in a quarry after a VERY lengthy fight. I wanted the people upholding law and order in this city to know I was on their side.

After about a minute of flying, I found myself headed toward a fleet of cop cars chasing down a white limousine. And, just a few seconds later, I saw HER poke her head out the sun roof: Tammy Alfonso. Also known as Fonzie. Also known as the head of most organized crime in Star Lake. Also known as the reason my mom ran out on me when I was 5, since she was on the run from HER. And also known as the one who employed the man who killed my dad's best friend, Mack, a guy who was like an uncle to me.

Oh yeah, and the last time we met, she tried to kill me a bunch of times. First, by burying me under a bunch of stone rubble, then by slicing me open with a knife, and THEN by having her slave/henchman, the aforementioned Superhuman who smashed those cars, try to BREAK me. To say that I had a personal stake in seeing her trade in that stupid 1950's mobster look for an orange jumpsuit would be a bit of an understatement. And yes, she not only dressed like an old-school mob boss, she even ACTED like one, right down to giving her men tommy guns.

"Fonzie!" I yelled as I flew in closer, getting her attention. "Tell your driver to pull over!"

"Well, if it isn't the Incredible Blonde Bimbo!" Fonzie called back as I came within a few feet of the limo. "Still chasing me?! I'm touched!"

"Hey, that's CAPTAIN Blonde Bimbo to you!" I snarked, keeping up the banter. "Now, I wanna do the whole 'Easy way vs hard way' speech, but I'm pretty sure you A, already know it, and B, already know which one you're gonna go with!"

"C'mon, babe, you know I love it the hard way!" Alfonso shouted, aiming her custom-made tommy gun with grenade launcher attachment, Lil' Tammy, right at me. I could even barely make out the split in it from where I'd broken it the last time we met.

I immediately started hardening my body as much as I could at the sight of that gun. I knew what she had in mind, and as much as it was going to suck, the alternative was to either dodge this next shot, or let it phase through me, and in either of those cases, it would hit one of the cop cars behind me. So, instead, I crossed my arms in front of me and turned myself as solid as I could, right as she fired a grenade at me. I felt the heat and force of the exploding grenade smack against me hard, and the next thing I knew, I was tumbling across the road, the police cars weaving around me. I came to a stop in a heap as soon as the last squad car sped past, continuing their pursuit.

"...Not that easy...!" I groaned, phasing through the road.

Now, I'm sure, at that point, Fonzie had a good laugh to herself as she lowered herself back down into the limo. And I know she had her feet kicked up and an arm crossed behind her head, the other reaching for a bottle of champagne as she celebrated blowing the crap outta me. And why do I know this? Because it's what I saw the second I phased up out of the road and into her limo, having followed from behind and keeping the upper half of my head up high enough to see where she was at all times. Of course, the second I did, that bottle fell to the floor, and her laugh came to an abrupt end.

"...Cruising with Ruben & The Jets?" I asked as I took a seat across from the mob boss, hearing what was playing over the limousine's stereo. "First off, IRONY. Second, do you even know who Frank Zappa IS?"

Fonzie just growled and hoisted up her gun, unloading bullet after bullet into me, all of which crumpled up against my steel-hard body and fell to the floor. "WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!"

"Y'know, Fonzie, I'd heard that you got this gig from family connections, and I gotta say, I totally buy it!" I taunted her, yelling over the constant, deafening gunfire. "Has there ever been a mob boss as successful as you who is every bit as stupid to boot?!" Naturally, the only reaction that got was for her to stop shooting long enough for her to load another grenade. "You're REALLY gonna risk shooting a grenade in here?!"

"Uh, boss?!" the driver called back from the front.

"I dunno, Blondie!" Alfonso taunted, smirking as she kept the gun trained on me. "Maybe you should hurry your ass up and get out of my limo, before I do something crazy! I mean, we both know how much you'd hate to have the blood of me and my driver on your hands!"

I sighed, crossing my legs. "You know, you're right. Here's my counterpoint, though: I'm not letting you escape this time."

"Boss, I really think you should-" the driver started to call.

"Zip it, Larry!" Tammy roared as I leaned back into my seat, glancing lazily over my shoulder toward the front of the vehicle. "...See?! You're making poor Larry all nervous he's about to go up in smoke! Hell, he might even have a heart attack from all this stress if you don't leave this car this second!"

"Or he might hit the brakes and stop the vehicle before it smashes into that road block," I suggested, hiking a thumb back at the windshield.

Fonzie took her eye off of me just long enough to look where I was pointing. Sure enough, there was a police road block set up ahead of the car, and we were getting a lot closer to it. Which she probably would've noticed if yours truly hadn't been taking up her time and attention. She must've figured that out, too, because as soon as she saw it, she started to get to her feet, presumably to go up through the sun roof so she could take a shot at the road block with a grenade. That was what I was waiting for. I immediately dove forward and grabbed her, phasing us both through the back of the car as we wrestled for her gun. As I heard the limo screech to a halt behind us, I solidified my head as much as I could and slammed it straight into the part of Lil Tammy where I'd broken it before, splitting it into pieces again. Of course, this made me more than a bit woozy, sending the both of us sprawling across the pavement.

"Ow..." I moaned, slowly pulling myself up to my feet. "Okay, that might've been a mistake."

A loud, murderous scream pulled me out of my daze. I looked ahead just in time to see Fonzie rushing me, a pair of knives drawn. No time to think, just react. I made my body go intangible, sending her sailing straight through me, before solidifying again and pulling a small pellet from my belt. As Fonzie spun around to slice at me again, I threw the pellet straight into her chest, causing it to erupt into a yellow goop that covered most of her body. The goop hardened quickly, stopping her in place, her knives just inches away from making contact with me. Fonzie growled and grunted, trying to move, only to instead send herself falling back on her butt on the road.

I let out a sigh of relief, bent over a little and wiped the sweat from my forehead as the police cars came to a stop behind me. Within seconds, a flood of cops came rushing out, guns trained on Alfonso. Fonzie couldn't believe what she was seeing. I suppose if I were her, I wouldn't have been able to believe it either. Still, it was happening: After years of getting away with whatever she wanted, she was finally caught.

"You...You think this is over?" Fonzie demanded, looking straight at me. "You think you can just beat me?!  **I OWN THIS CITY!** "

I let myself stand up straight again, glaring back into Tammy's eyes as a pair of officers took her knives away and placed handcuffs on her. "...Not anymore. This is Star Lake. The people own this city. And we don't ever wanna see you on these streets ever again."

I'm sure Alfonso probably refused to believe that ANY of this was really happening, that this was some kind of fever dream. That she hadn't been so careless, and wasn't being arrested, especially not in such an embarrassing fashion. She wasn't going to be nailed down for every last atrocity she'd committed as the head of organized crime in the city. She wasn't going to prison. But she was. All of that was happening, and more was on the way. It was the end of her era. And all she could do the entire time she was being apprehended, her rights being read to her, her body, which was still encompassed in adhesive goop, being loaded into the back of a police van, along with her driver, was to stare incredulously at me.

I never broke eye contact with her the whole time. I wonder sometimes, while this was going on, if she thought at all about the blonde woman she saw all those years ago. The woman who phased through her bullet by accident while she was trying to get innocent people out of the way of a shoot-out Fonzie and her men were having with a rival gang. The woman who fled Star Lake after a bullet meant for her phased through her body and hit Fonzie's lover in the head, killing him, and making her a target. Did she think about her at all? Did she put it together in her head that, over a decade later, it was another blonde who could phase through solid objects who finally brought her down? If she ever did, I guess I'll deal with that some other time. For that moment, though, when the van doors were shut, and she was taken away, I had only one thing to say as I watched the police van drive out of sight.

"...That was for my mom."


	3. Chapter 3

I smiled as I raised my glass of coke to make contact with Dad's, Olette's, and Scotty's. It had been a few hours since Fonzie's arrest, and I just wanted to make sure the streets were relatively clear before heading back to my place, changing clothes, and celebrating. Besides, it took a little while for Scotty to make his way there, so it gave me some extra time to patrol...even if the worst thing I saw happening after Alfonso was thrown in a jail cell was someone trying to break into a car. Still, didn't want people thinking I was taking it easy now.

The celebration was actually Dad's idea. He figured we should have a quick get-together after Fonzie was finally arrested. I was pretty quick to agree, but honestly, not for myself. The thing is, putting Fonzie behind bars was something that he'd been trying to do for YEARS. I wanted him to have the chance to really enjoy that. Although, that didn't stop him from HEAPING praise on me...mostly just because he knew it'd embarrass me.

"And hey, here's to the greatest daughter that any father could ever ask for," Dad toasted, watching as I blushed hard enough to be seen from across the street.

"AND to the greatest girlfriend anyone could ever ask for," Olette chimed in, making me want to hide my face.

"...And I like you as a friend!" Scotty added, cracking the ice enough for me to let go of my embarrassment and laugh genuinely.

"In all seriousness, though," my dad said, his tone turning more sincere, "I want you to know just how proud I am of you for what you've done today. Here's to the girl who brought down the Fonz."

I shook my head, raising my glass again. "No. Here's to the TEAM who brought down the Fonz."

"Hear, hear!" Scotty agreed as we all clinked glasses again.

So, about an hour, we went about toasting, laughing, and dancing to really upbeat and...honestly, kinda terrible music, but we didn't care, because we were celebrating. Plus, none of us could really dance all that well anyway, so it kind of fit. After a while, though, I eventually found myself alone in the kitchen, refilling my glass. Once that was done, though, I looked out into the hallway at two pictures hung from the wall: That of a beautiful blonde woman, and of a handsome redheaded police officer. I walked up to them, looking from one to the other.

"They'd be proud of you, you know," I heard Dad say, turning to face him standing a few feet away. "No more than I am, but they'd be damned proud."

I smiled a little, looking back at the picture of Mack. "...I just hope he's resting a little more peacefully now."

"I'm positive he is," Dad replied, walking up next to me. "Mack was every bit as...Well, let's call a spade a spade, as OBSESSED with bringing down Fonzie as I was. It was the one thing we could never do as a team."

"Except be respectable men, you mean," I joked, grinning.

Dad chuckled at my joke before turning to glance sadly at Mom's portrait. "...I wonder if, wherever she is, she'll hear about this?"

I sighed, staring at Mom's face looking back at me in her picture. I could see my reflection in the glass of the frame, and it seemed to overlap her perfectly. I was starting to look even more like her. Dad must've noticed that, too, because I could see him smile sadly at me in the reflection. I turned to face him, looking him in the eye.

"...I WILL find her, Dad," I promised as solemnly as I could possibly manage. "As soon as I graduate, and the police have control of the city again, I'm gonna focus everything I've got on finding her and bringing her home."

Dad shook his head. "What about college, honey?"

"I can ALWAYS go to college, Dad," I argued. "It's not going anywhere. But Mom...the longer we wait-"

"I know," Dad acknowledged, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Just make sure you don't put TOO much of your life on the shelf, okay? I can think of one girl who might be a bit disappointed if you did."

I blushed a little, realizing he was right. "Yeah. Say, where IS Olette, anyway?"

"I, uh, think she was headed for the bathroom the last I saw her," my dad answered, hiking his thumb down the hall.

I nodded, heading up that way as Dad went back to the living room. Immediately, I noticed that the bathroom door was closed, like someone was in there, but I couldn't see any light peering under the door from inside. Olette couldn't have been in there. Instead, I noticed that the door to my room was open a crack, and could see a tiny bit of light coming through it.

_What is she doing?_  I wondered, confused.

Deciding to get to the bottom of this, I phased down through the floor and then floated forward until I was just underneath my bedroom. Once there, I came up just enough to see into my room. Sure enough, Olette was in there. She was posing in front of my mirror. What was different, though, was that she was wearing a black, sleeveless cloak over her back like a make-shift cape, and a black bandanna with eye-holes cut into it. The same cloak and bandanna I wore with her sailor fuku cosplay costume on my first night as Starslip.

"...Having fun?" I asked as I came up through the floor, scaring her a little.

"Jeez, don't DO that!" Olette yelped in a hushed tone. "You scared the hell outta me!"

"Hey, YOU'RE the one breaking into my room and horsing around with my stuff," I pointed out, smirking.

Olette didn't say anything in her defense, knowing I was right. Instead, she gave a small twirl before posing for me like a superheroine. "So...how do I look?"

"...You look great, sweetie," I admitted, reaching over to slowly and carefully pull the bandanna off. "But I thought we talked about this."

Olette pouted a little, putting her glasses on. "C'mon, if I had a couple of those gel pellets, I coulda handled that idiot at the burrito stand, and then you could've gone right for Fonzie."

"Yeah, and then I'd have to explain to your family how you got shot through the shoulder," I remarked as Olette took the cloak off. "O, you can't just run up to guys wielding guns."

"You do it all the time," Olette argued.

"I'M bulletproof," I retorted. "You don't have any powers."

"Yeah, but, neither did you until the thing with Charlotte," Olette insisted. "Maybe mine just haven't kicked in yet? If they did, I could help you."

I folded my arms, turning a bit more serious. "You already help me, a lot."

"Yeah, as Homepage, behind a computer or a cell phone," Olette scoffed. "I'm talking about actually helping you out in the field."

I cocked an eyebrow. "...Is this about what Charlotte said earlier? Because if it is-"

O rolled her eyes as she cut in. "Please, like I'd ever take ANYTHING she says seriously. I just wish I could do more is all."

I sighed, pulling Olette into a hug. "...I know. And I think it's really sweet, you wanting to help me. It's a huge part of what I love so damn much about you. But you DO help, and I don't just mean as Homepage. I mean as YOU, as Olette, being there for me whenever I've needed you."

Olette nodded. "Yeah, I know...I just-"

The two of us were cut off by a knock at the door, looking to see Scotty standing in the doorway. "Hey, sorry, it's just, someone on Star Link just posted something about a gas main in a building on Applegate busting. One family's having trouble getting their pets out."

I nodded, breaking away from Olette and going to fetch my costume. "On it. Let's do this, team!"

"You got it," I heard Olette say, still sounding a little deflated. And I didn't see it, since I was looking in the wrong direction, but apparently, after I left the room, she was taking a moment to stare back at the discarded bandanna on the floor. I kinda wish I HAD, though. It would've saved me a lot of trouble later on if I'd known that this discussion was most definitely not over...


	4. Chapter 4

It was the next day. I was sitting in home science class, listening to Mrs. Bluestone drag on and on and ON about the durability of glass, and just how much it could be bent before it finally broke. Suffice to say, I was pretty bored. And when I say pretty bored, I mean I'd have rather listened to more of Fonzie shooting me in an enclosed area than listen to another damned minute of my teacher talking about glass.

So, naturally, instead of REALLY listening to the class lesson and taking notes on it, I was thinking of stuff that happened the night before. It turned out, the gas main at that apartment building being broken wasn't an accident. The police could tell right away that the damage was too extreme, and the denting along it suggested it had been beaten with something, like a wrench or a hammer.

Here's where things got a bit more complicated, though: One of the tenants of that building was currently under police surveillance, because he was suspected to be one of Alfonso's goons. He had an alibi, though, in that he was inside all day with a cold, and no one saw him come outside all day. Digging a little deeper, I found out that there was one other reason the police were keeping an eye on him: Apparently, other gangs in town had been threatening him and other suspected members of Fonzie's circle. Obviously, one of them got a little braver now that she was behind bars and decided to send them all a message.

I frowned, thinking the implications of that over. I mean, we all kinda figured it would happen the second Fonzie was put away, and we knew the alternative was to just let her keep getting away with whatever. Still, there was just no way around the fact that, if a gang war broke out, it'd be my fault and my responsibility. It's kind of the double-edged sword when it comes to taking down mob bosses.

After a while, though, the bell rang, signalling that it was lunch time. I packed up my stuff and filed out with the rest of the students, pretty much automatically heading for the library to meet up with Olette. Unfortunately, as I was making my way there, a loud slamming sound caught my attention. Spinning around, I looked down a hallway to see Charlotte shoved up against a locker by Louise, who had her forearm pressed against the redhead's throat. I could make out Charlotte choking a little as the arm was pressed against her, and I immediately started heading toward them, breaking into a jog.

"-to stay the hell out of my business, or we'll see just how healed up that leg of yours is, you piece of-" I heard Louise say as I got closer, just before I shoved her off of Charlotte. The blue-haired bully stumbled away as I got between her and her target.

"Is this just gonna be a daily thing with you?" I asked, eyes narrowed as I clutched my book bag in my fist. "You trying to fill out your Being-A-Bitch Bingo card or something?"

Louise clenched her fists hard, sizing up for a fight. I didn't back down. I knew I couldn't use my powers for handling school bullies, but like hell if I was gonna just stand on the sidelines and watch them beat on people, either. Luckily, it didn't come to that. Louise decided, after seeing I wasn't walking away, to back off herself, scoffing and turning to head the other way. Seeing her leaving, I turned to face Charlotte instead.

"You alright?" I asked, looking the redhead over.

"I'm fine," Charlotte practically spat, shoving herself off the lockers and trying to walk away from me. "I didn't need your help."

"Coulda fooled me," I replied, walking alongside of her and slinging my bag back over my shoulder. "She was choking you out."

"Bitch jumped me from behind," Charlotte explained, rubbing her neck. "Guess everybody's finding their balls nowadays."

"She's really taking you changing your ways hard, huh?" I inquired.

Charlotte scoffed loudly a little at that. "Well, I wouldn't expect her to get why it's so important to me to clean up my act! And I've got enough to worry about without her adding to the mix!"

I blinked, caught off-guard by that last remark. "...Is everything okay at home?"

Charlotte stopped dead in her tracks and got right up in my face, gritting her teeth hard. "Everything. Is. Freaking. PEACHY."

"Doesn't sound it," I replied simply, trying to remain calm.

Charlotte didn't have an answer. Her family situation is...a bit complicated. Here's the short version: Her father found out he was gay late into his marriage to Charlotte's mother, and had an affair with his accountant, which led to the two getting divorced. Then Charlotte's mother met a man named Dan at Alcoholics Anonymous, and the two decided to get married here in Star Lake, to distance the family further from Charlotte's dad. Problem is, Dan's a bit of a perfectionist who expects Charlotte to be the best at everything, and following the incident where she was put out of school for breaking her leg on my ribs, he got into a fight with her while he was drunk...which I kind of stupidly put myself in the middle of. Not my finest moment.

So yeah, to say that Charlotte's life at home is perfect would be a blatant lie. But, ever since then, Charlotte's mom had been making Dan get help, and they've been going to family counselling ever since. Last I'd heard, there hadn't been an incident like that ever since. But clearly, if something HAD happened, Charlotte wasn't ready to talk about it.

"Look, if you need someone to watch your back and keep Louise off of it, why don't you hang out with me and Olette for lunch?" I offered.

"Yyyeah, no thanks," Charlotte answered, folding her arms. "Watching you two tongue-wrestle for an hour? I don't think your girlfriend would be too happy about that...Speaking of."

I turned around, glancing toward where she was looking. Sure enough, Olette was headed down the hall toward us in a hurry, looking more than a little concerned. Seeing this as an opportunity to excuse herself, Charlotte creeped off and headed elsewhere.

"Just got an alert on the Star Link...!" Olette huffed in a hushed tone. "...What was THAT all about?"

"Louise," I explained quickly. "What's up?"

"Some creep in a costume is making trouble at the eatery in Simonson Place Mall," O went on.

I looked at my watch, thinking over how far Simonson Place Mall was. "...Okay, plenty of time. If I'm late, you know the drill?"

"Already got an excuse lined up," Olette answered. "GO."

I nodded, taking off for the ladies' room. I got changed into my costume as fast as I could, then flew up toward the roof of the school, stashing my book bag there before taking off toward the mall. Luckily, Simonson Place Mall was only a fifteen minute walk from the Maria J. Hanson Memorial High School. In fact, a lot of the students liked walking over there to hang out during lunch, or to cut class. So flying there barely took much time at all.

Once I found myself floating over the mall, I headed toward where the eatery was and landed on the roof, peering down through the glass ceiling. Sure enough, a man wearing a pair of really ill-fitting brown tights and a cheap-looking crown and cape was causing havoc, throwing what looked to be burritos and tacos at people while holding up someone at a cash register with a gun. I frowned as I got a good look at the man's figure. That, combined with the crime he was committing, made it pretty clear: I knew this person.

"HEY!" I yelled as I phased through the glass ceiling and floated down into the mall, getting the crook's attention. As he turned around, I noticed he had the image of a burrito on his chest. "Now, I thought we had an agreement: I didn't wanna see you pulling another stunt like you did yesterday!"

"Foolish girl!" the crook yelled in the single most over-the-top dramatic villain voice I think I have ever heard in my life. "You think I could pass this opportunity up?! With Alfonso gone, it's time someone else stepped up to be your enemy! Look no farther, Starslip, for you have found him! I am your nemesis, your nightmare made flesh, your DOOM! I am...The God-Emperor of Burritos!"

...I know what you're thinking. And I swear on all that is holy or sacred, I did not make that up. That actually happened. This man, this harasser of burrito sellers, this apparent lover of Mexican cuisine, was standing there, a burrito in one hand and a kind of cartoonish-looking gun, now that I was getting a better look at it, in the other, and proclaimed to be 'The God-Emperor of Burritos'. My new arch-nemesis. This was a thing that was ACTUALLY HAPPENING. Such a historic and terrifying event, that there was only one way I could possibly respond: I snorted. HARD.

"I'm sorry, I..." I started to say before cracking up into a fit of giggles, touching down on the floor of the eatery as a few other people started laughing as well. "I'm sorry! I don't...I get it. I get the mentality here. You were clearly going for a name that no one else could've possibly taken. And honestly, I DO applaud you on your originality, good sir. It's just... _ **you're the Deity-King of TACO BELL!**_ "

The God-Emperor of Burritos (God, I feel dumber every time I have to say that name) growled, obviously a bit ticked off, and aimed his gun at me. I immediately solidified, getting ready to take the blast so it wouldn't hit anyone else...and found myself relatively surprised to find the gun didn't fire bullets, but rather a small pellet that exploded into hot sauce, coating the front of my costume. I just remember staring down at the mess it made before glaring back up at the crook.

"...SERIOUSLY?!" I demanded. "I know I KINDA had that coming, but what the hell?!"

The Creator-Czar of Enchiladas got ready to throw the burrito in his hand at me. I was having none of this anymore, though. I just launched myself towards him like a rocket and knocked the burrito out of his hand, then gave him a good slap. Not a super solid slap, mind you, nothing to put him in the hospital, but just hard enough to sting like hell. While he was reeling from that, I pulled a pair of handcuffs from my belt and wrenched his arm behind his back, knocking his gun out of his grip and slapping a cuff on his wrist before doing the same to his other arm.

"Honestly, did you just wake up this morning and decide 'Hey, I'm gonna be a supervillain'?" I asked as I kept him in my grip. "Did you steal from your kid's Halloween costumes to make your suit?"

"Look, I MAY have taken the components from my nephew..." the Maker-Monarch of Mexican Cuisine started to retort before giving up, just as mall security decided to close in on him now that he was unarmed.

"Yeah, note to all of your criminal buddies: Get a proper tailor before becoming a supervillain," I advised, rolling my eyes.

Right after I said that, I heard something echo through the air. It sounded like a scream. As I was looking around for the source, though, I noticed something else: Electrical devices in the mall suddenly shorting out. After that, the floor shook hard, like something huge had made impact with the ground outside. Next, I heard the glass ceiling start to crack. Looking up, I saw huge cracks forming in it, the sky darkening.

"MOVE!" I yelled at the crowd that was still standing around.

Just as people started to run out of the way, the glass ceiling shattered, pieces falling toward the ground. I flew toward the guards, the Almighty Sovereign of Fajitas in my arms, just before glass smashed down where we were once standing. Checking to make sure everyone was okay, I let the crook go and lifted up toward the open hole in the ceiling, only to find a giant hand coming down at me. Without time to turn intangible, I got swatted back down, managing to stop my descent just before I hit the ground.

"What the hell?!" I demanded, shaking the cobwebs loose from that hit.

Looking up, I watched as a number of figures descended through the open ceiling. First, a giant woman, had to have been at least five stories tall, loomed overhead, starting to shrink a bit. She looked to be wearing red and blue bands all across her body. Next, the screaming came back as a pitch-black female figure with white lines running through her body and electricity peeling off it flew down through the hole. Lastly, a large, rectangular pane of glass floated slowly down into the mall, carrying three individuals at first, until the giant woman joined them. The others were a man in a black and grey jumpsuit and mask, red lens covering his eyes, a bearded man in a black and grey suit and frost forming around his fist, and a violet-skinned woman with teal hair wearing white, see-through robes. The group all touched down onto the floor, standing in a line in front of me.

"...See?" I asked. "THESE guys clearly have tailors."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's kinda late. But, you know how it is. Kinktober came along, wanted to do some stuff for it over on Deviant Art, and I got tied up trying to tackle too much at once. Good news is, expect plenty more chapters where this came from soon.

So, there I was, standing face-to-face with an entire team of costumed criminals. Now, I COULD just describe each of them whenever I talk about them...but, to save time, I think I'll just give you their code-names now, which I learned later. The one with electricity coming off her body was called Thunder Cloud. Beardo with frost coating his fists was named Frost Warning. The formerly-gigantic woman was named Tower Woman. Mr. Edge Lord in the black and grey costume was called, believe it or not, Edge. And the woman all too happy to show off her violet skin was named Sap. Every single one of them looked like a serious badass.

...And standing across from them was one teenaged superhero with the mother of all hot sauce stains on the front of her costume. Not much point saying who was coming off looking the most ready to rumble in this situation.

"...Hey, so, you're kind of catching me on a weird day," I said, trying my best to sound friendly. "Y'know how it is, with crazy guys dressing up and robbing burrito stands. Bet that happens to you guys ALL the time, am I right? So if you guys wanna maybe do this tomorrow, or...y'know, NEVER, that'd be super."

"She certainly likes to talk," Tower Woman observed. "How old do you figure she is? 15?"

"Remember, we've got a job to do," Edge pointed out, his voice sounding distorted, like he had some kind of filter on. "Smash and grab."

"Got'cha," Tower Woman replied with a smirk. "So, who gets to smash?"

Before either of them could say anything more, Thunder Cloud's body started to spark up wildly as she let out a horrible shriek. The second she swung a hand back, I knew what was coming, so I flew towards my left, just in time to avoid a blast of electricity that ripped through tables and chairs set up along the eatery. As I got out of the way of that, though, I found a mass of shards of glass being hurled my way, so I turned intangible and sailed straight through them. Seeing that Edge was controlling the glass, I turned myself solid and flew towards him, looking to punch him out, only to be hit first with a wicked right hook by Frost Warning. The force of the punch sent me rolling across the floor, my chin feeling kinda frosty.

Looking up, I noticed that Tower Woman and Sap were starting to round up people who were trying to run for their lives. Miss Gigantess, who was currently grown to about 10 feet tall, was holding them still, while Sap had some kind of egg-beater-looking thing with flashing lights she was waving in front of them. I didn't know what they were doing, and I didn't care. I just knew I had to put a stop to it. Shaking off how cold my face felt, I phased down through the floor and rushed just underneath the two before coming back up, turning tangible just in time to grab hold of Tower Woman's braids and yank her down hard into the floor, forcing her to let go of the innocent people she was holding hostage.

"What do you people want any-!" I started to demand before I felt a hand reach around and clasp over my mouth. As it did, I felt myself start to get woozy, almost like my energy was being sucked out, so I struck back with an elbow and caught the person in the ribs. Whirling around, I saw it was Sap, who was now holding her gut where I'd hit her. Solidifying my fist as much as I could, I swung it back before throwing it her way, only for her to mirror my move and stop my punch with her own. My eyes widened in shock, realizing right away that her fist was every bit as solid as mine, before she surprised me again, turning intangible and phasing past me before turning her leg solid again and kicking me square in the back.

"Gah!" Sap cried out, pressing a hand to her thigh, as if it was suddenly cramping up bad.

Seeing that reaction, I immediately got what had just happened. "...You stole my powers...!"

Suddenly, Tower Woman reached out and grabbed me tight in her giant hand, holding me up. "You catch on quick, don't you?"

"Forget her, she's not our target!" Edge yelled as the fivesome formed back up, Frost Warning holding one of the security guards by the wrist. "This one here's on the list, though. Spread out and find the others. We'll rendezvous back at the vehicle once we have everyone."

_Shit, they're kidnappers!_  I realized, immediately phasing out of Tower Woman's grip.  _Can't let 'em get away!_

I rushed toward Frost Warning, trying to free the guard, only for the bearded brawler to raise a fist and send a horrible burst of cold air and even a little bit of snow my way. I raised both arms up, trying my best to keep it out of my eyes, all the while I got forced down to the ground. I tried to phase down through the floor and out of the way, but I couldn't. The cold was keeping me from turning intangible. I looked ahead just in time to see Edge start to gather a bunch of glass into the air into one big ball.

"Oh shit...!" I moaned, turning myself solid as rapidly as I could.

All too soon, Edge hurled the giant glass ball my way. Bracing myself, I took it as best as I could, but still found myself getting slammed pretty hard, knocking me through a counter and into one of the restaurants of the eatery, all the while I felt glass shards roll across my body as the ball exploded. I'm not sure exactly how long I laid in the glass and the rubble of the restaurant counter, too dazed to move, but when I finally did, the ones who had done all of this damage were gone. Looking down at myself, I took note of just how many cuts and slices there were in my costume. There had to be dozens of them. Thankfully, though, there weren't much more than superficial scrapes underneath. Still, as I slowly got to my feet, I knew one thing for sure.

"...Scotty's not gonna like this," I moaned.

Suddenly, I could hear my phone ringing. Reaching down, I opened the pocket of my belt where I kept it, only to find that it was already sliced partially open. To my immediate dismay, there were a bunch more cuts all across my dad's old utility belt, tearing holes through the various compartments. I let out a small whine at the sorry sight of it, taking my phone out and answering it.

"...Hello," I groaned.

"We've got trouble at the school!" I heard Olette cry. "Some psychos are attacking some of the students!"

Suddenly, I forgot all about my exhaustion, or the state of my costume. "I'll be right there! Stay outta sight!"

With that, I pocketed my phone, took off like a rocket through the hole in the glass ceiling, and shot straight for the school. Suffice to say, I flew a lot faster back to school than I had to the mall, but even then, every second felt like an hour. It didn't help that I could see a trail of damage leading between the two, with crashed cars, scorched roads, and fallen telephone poles, and all I could think of was how, with every second it took to get to the school, that was more damage being done there, more people getting hurt or worse, and more chances one of the freaks who had left me in a heap back at the mall could find Olette.

_If ANY of them so much as touch her, they will be SORRY!_  I swore, suddenly speeding up even more, surprising myself a little.

See, here's the thing: Flying around as much as I do, I've gotten to know just how fast I can go pretty easily. In fact, one time, my dad decided he wanted to test to see just how fast I was, so he drove around town while I flew overhead. He even went out onto the highway leading out of Star Lake, where he could go a lot faster. So I knew that, if I really wanted to, I could easily fly at about 70 miles per hour. At that moment, though? Flying back to the school? I'm pretty sure I'd doubled that. Minimum. So yeah, didn't take long to get there.

I almost peed as I saw the school. The front doors weren't just torn off; it was like the entire main entrance was ripped clean off the building, arch and all. The idea that someone might actually attack the high school had never once occurred to me. As stressful as school could be, it never seemed like the kind of place where I'd have a superpowered throw-down, nor did I ever want it to be. So seeing the school like that, knowing what was probably going on inside, was horrifying.

Swooping down through the destroyed entrance of the school, it didn't take much to track down the thugs responsible for this attack. I just had to follow the trail of busted lockers and burn marks in the floor and the walls. All too soon, I spotted Sap using that weird device of hers on a few students she had lined up against a wall. Solidifying, I raced toward her and slammed her down to the floor, dragging her across it.

"Stay away from them!" I yelled.

As I dragged Sap several feet across the floor, however, she reached up and punched me in the face. It didn't hurt all that much, but I could feel myself start to lose focus, and we both went crashing into a pair of lockers. I pulled myself back to my feet, right as she did the same, and we both immediately squared off, going into stances...the exact same stance, I couldn't help but notice: Hips squared, fists raised, eyes on the opponent, waiting for them to make the first move. The same one my dad had taught me right after my fight with Cleaveland, when it was clear I needed more hand-to-hand fighting experience.

_She doesn't just have my powers,_  I realized.  _She knows every trick I do._

Deciding to test this, I went for a right hook to the jaw, only for Sap to block it by catching my fist in her right hand and try to shove her left elbow in my face. But I knew that move, so I threw my own elbow her way, the two of us colliding with the same strike. I dug my feet in, pushing hard on her, trying to get the leverage on her. Unfortunately, I made one mistake: I was expecting her, since she had all my powers, abilities, and so on, to fight just like me. In other words, I wasn't expecting her to start fighting dirty. Say, for example, kicking me square between the legs...which she did. HARD.

"...You kicked me in the box!" I whined, backing off while bent over a bit. "Why?! Why would you kick me in the box?!"

In lieu of answering, Sap instead grabbed me by the shoulders and slammed me into a locker. Before I could try to get her off of me, she did probably the last thing I was expecting her to do: She kissed me. Now, when I say that she kissed me, I don't mean like she gave me a little peck on the cheek, or a tiny kiss on the lips. Uh-uh, she was straight up shoving her tongue in my mouth. I tried to push her off, but she was getting stronger by the second, while I was getting weaker.

Lucky for me, though, Sap didn't keep her little lip lock of hers going for too long before she backed off, looking kinda spaced out. I didn't get why, but it was like she was in some kind of trance. She just reached up and touched her lips, staring at me the whole time. It was almost like she recognized me or something. I couldn't understand why. Even ignoring the purple skin and teal hair, which are REALLY hard things to ignore, she didn't look familiar to me at all.

Before either of us could do anything, though, Sap fell to the floor, having been struck in the back of the neck by an overhead swing from a badminton racket. Looking forward, I saw the swinger: None other than Olette. She clutched the broken racket tightly in her hands, getting between me and Sap as the latter clutched the back of her head.

"Get back, you bitch!" O screamed, keeping the racket raised.

Sap crawled away, keeping her eyes on the both of us. Part of me wanted to ask...I don't know what. Just, questions. But before I could, Sap phased down through the floor and into the ground. She never came back up. I guessed she'd decided to make a run for it. I didn't know why, though. With the kind of energy she'd taken from me, there was no way she couldn't have taken both of us in a fight.

"The hell was THAT all about?" Olette demanded, looking freaked out.

"She's some kinda...energy sucker," I explained, taking the moment to catch my breath.

"You okay?" Olette asked, looking me over.

"I'll be alright," I replied, half-lying, while observing the broken racket. "...See you figured out the overhead."

Olette looked down at the racket, letting out a tiny chuckle. "Yeah, well, y'know, I don't think I'm supposed to BREAK it, but-"

Olette was cut off by the sound of screeching and the crackling of electricity. Glancing over her shoulder, I spotted the source of it: Thunder Cloud, hovering a few inches off the floor, voltage running off her body and along the walls. She cupped her hands together and gathered a small sphere of electricity together. Without even thinking, I grabbed Olette and pushed her out of the way, solidifying myself as much as I possibly could in the incredibly short time I had, hoping it would block out enough of the voltage to where it wouldn't hurt much.

...It wasn't enough. Not even close.

I fell to my knees, the horrible surge having rushed through me, my throat sore from screaming. I could smell the burns across my costume. I could hear Olette screaming something, but I couldn't make out what it was. There was too much ringing in my ears, and Thunder Cloud was still letting out that horrifying screech of hers. I just remember slowly reaching down to my belt, grabbing a gel pellet. I don't know how I managed it, but I gripped it tightly and flung it at Thunder Cloud...only for a giant hand to come rushing in from out of nowhere and catch it, the gel imploding in the palm.

I planted one foot down and started to stand up, kinda shaky. As I did, Tower Woman walked towards me, standing tall enough that her head was almost scraping across the ceiling. Olette charged her with her broken racket, but Tower Woman just grabbed her and flung her into me, knocking us both into the broken lockers behind us. I looked up weakly as the giantess smirked down at us, putting both hands on top of the row of lockers. Knowing what was coming next, I rolled myself over Olette, wrapping my cape around her, and turned as solid as I was able to, right before the lockers came crashing down around us, and all I knew at that point was black.


	6. Chapter 6

You ever wake up from a day that was SO exhausting that you're not even 100% sure you actually ARE waking up? I just remember my eyes opening super slow, and there was kind of a filter over them that made things seem sort of grey and blurry. But, I managed to recognize pretty quickly that I wasn't in my room. That was enough of a scare. But I had no idea what hour it was, what day it was, or hell, even what MONTH it was. I could've been sleeping for DAYS for all I knew. That was significantly scarier.

I heard someone calling out to my right. I couldn't tell at first who it was, since there was a ringing in my head, but as my vision started to come back, I could make out the white and green of my school uniform. Olette. She'd been sitting next to me while I slept. Then I could make out more of the room, and feel the IV stuck in my arm. I was in a hospital bed. Olette must've taken me here.

"...sie?" I heard O say as the ringing in my head died down, right as my dad came in the room. "Cassie, say something."

"...Did anyone get the license plate of the meteor that hit me?" I asked, groggily.

"We're currently doing a manhunt for it, honey," my dad teased, trying to hide the fact that he was on the verge of tears. He was failing, of course.

"How long...?" I inquired, moaning as I tried and failed to sit up.

"About 12 hours," Olette answered, holding my hand in both of hers. "The doctors weren't sure if you'd wake up this soon or not."

My eyes suddenly widened, realizing that I'd been brought here right after the attack. "Do they...know-"

"They just think you were caught in the crossfire of the attack," Dad quickly explained. "Had to change your clothes, though. Lucky Olette has a spare uniform in her locker."

I nodded, smirking a little at Olette. "Right. Your mom always worried you might mess up yours and need an extra."

Olette nodded. "Yeah, FYI, Scotty? NOT happy about what you did to your costume."

I groaned, remembering the damage done to the suit. "Prognosis?"

"Terminal case, I'm afraid," Dad answered. "He's gonna have to remake the whole thing."

"Well, maybe not," Olette replied, getting confused looks from me and Dad. "...I'll explain later. Let's just say, we've known something like this could happen for a while now."

"...Miss Doyle?" a voice inquired, revealed to be a doctor entering the room. "I'm Doctor Francine Lee. I've been looking over your x-rays for any substantial damage."

My blood turned cold as the reality of my situation suddenly reared its head. X-rays. They might've even taken blood tests. If it was possible for ordinary hospitals to tell the difference between regular people and Superhumans, then I was busted. There was only one way to know if this doctor knew, or if she was at least going to tip her hand in knowing right then and there.

"How bad is it, doc?" I asked.

"You're INCREDIBLY lucky," Doctor Lee answered, pinning a pair of x-rays to a board on the wall. "There are no signs of any broken bones or damage to your nervous system. You have a few superficial cuts and scrapes, even a bruised rib, but all things considered, I'd say you're going to be just fine."

I sighed in relief, although probably more relief than Doctor Lee knew. At least it didn't look like she was aware of my situation. Or, if she did, she was keeping that piece of information to herself. Either way, looked like my secret identity was safe for the time being.

"So, she's okay to go home?" Olette asked.

"Well, no," the doctor shot down. "I mean, COULD she go home and be alright? Maybe, but I would just as soon prefer she at least spend the night here for observation, and maybe go home in the afternoon."

"Well, at least I won't have to call the school to tell them why you're not there tomorrow," Dad noted. "Place is closed down for a little while."

Suddenly, what relief I felt was gone as I turned my head to face my dad. "...How bad is it?"

Dad frowned. "Well, the damage to the school isn't bad enough to close it down completely. But a few students were abducted, along with the other people they took from the city."

I nodded, understanding the situation before facing the doctor. "...Thank you."

"I'll let you three have a few moments, but after that, she really does need to get some rest," Doctor Lee told Dad and Olette, who nodded back to her before she left.

I let out a hard sigh as my head flopped back onto the pillow. "...Dammit. I should've stopped them."

"It was five-on-one," Olette pointed out, rubbing the back of my hand. "And every one of them had superpowers. No one could've handled odds like that."

"The police are trying to find out where they came from, but they've got no leads," Dad explained. "And the vans the kidnapped civilians were loaded into were found empty on the side of the road just outside the city limits, no signs of where they went after that."

I groaned, staring straight up at the ceiling. Suddenly, I found myself in a situation where I had not one but FIVE other Superhumans to fight, and I had no idea where they came from, why they were after those people, and where they went after they got them. It just didn't seem possible that NO ONE in town could have any information about a quintet of Superhumans...and that's when it hit me.

"Fonzie!" I exclaimed. "She got ahold of Cleaveland from some kinda Superhuman slave traders. If anybody in Star Lake might have info on super-powered out-of-towners..."

"Yeah, but she's in a maximum security cell and awaiting trial," my dad reminded me. "Somehow, I don't think the police will let you just waltz in and slap her around for some questions."

I smiled weakly. "No...but we DO know someone else who knew about some of her projects, who might be a little easier to talk to, and who I might not even have to rough up at all for the information."

Dad rubbed his temples. "Oh man, I was REALLY hoping we wouldn't have to rely on him for information so soon."

"I know, Dad, but it can't be helped," I replied. "When I get out of here, I need to talk to Dom."

"OR, to save time, and to give Scotty a little more time to work on your costume-" Olette started to suggest.

"You're NOT going to talk to Dom," I cut in, knowing exactly where that line of thought was going.

Olette just stared down at me, eyes narrowed. "Well, you know, you've got two choices: You can either let me do it, OR..."

I blinked in confusion as she trailed off, not quite getting where O was going with this now. Then it occurred to me what else she could've possibly had in mind, and my blood turned cold. She must've noticed, because, at that point, she began to reveal the most evil, sadistic, depraved smile I think I've ever seen on a human being. The most evil thing she could possibly think to do to me. That was her plan, if I refused to let her go and handle things. Either way, she'd win.

And so it was that, when faced with those two options, I found myself late in the afternoon the next day flying toward an apartment complex to the northwest side of town, dressed in Olette's sailor fuku, along with my cloak, and my Starslip mask, the latter of which thankfully survived the previous day's ordeal. And yes, I grumbled all the way there. I had a right to, dammit, and don't you dare try to tell me otherwise.

Thankfully, it wasn't a long flight, and I knew exactly where I was going. Part of the agreement with the police for all the info I had on Dom and Fonzie was that they'd share where they were letting Dom stay while in witness protection. So I managed to pick out his apartment pretty easily, spotting him watching TV in the living room through one of the windows. With a sigh, I let myself phase through the wall of the apartment, touching down a few feet behind him.

"Hello, Dom," I greeted flatly, earning an annoyed groan as he turned to face me. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, but I had a feeling you'd be dropping by sooner or later," Dom replied, looking me over with an amused smirk. "...Nice outfit."

I rolled my eyes. "It's a temp, okay?"

"Shame," Dom observed, making me REALLY want to punch him. "So, what do you want?"

"Information," I answered, folding my arms.

"Hey, I've already told the cops all they need about Fonzie," Dom pointed out, getting up from his seat and heading to the kitchen. "They got more than enough to put her away for life."

"You told them everything they'd need, but you didn't tell them everything you KNOW," I shot back as Dom got a bottle of pop out of the fridge, "or else I wouldn't need to be here...Tell me about Fonzie's Superhuman dealings."

Dom sighed, letting the bottle drop down hard onto the counter as his whole complexion changed to be much graver. "...Oh, THAT...Yeah, I may have held back a little bit of info about THAT. Not exactly the kind of stuff that's easy to chat about over a glass."

"Well, you're gonna tell ME," I insisted. "You heard what happened yesterday, right?"

Dom nodded, getting out a glass. "Yeah...Guess it's finally happening like Roy said."

My eyes widened a bit at the familiar name. "Roy...Fonzie's ex-right hand man?"

"Yeah, he always said getting involved with Superhumans was a mistake," Dom explained, pouring soda into the glass. "I think he was scared of you and your kind. Always thought it'd bring all kinds of Hell. And he NEVER liked Cleaveland. Never wanted him around. Always looked at him like he was some kinda demon or something. Which, hell, I get that better than most...I still think about bleeding out like a stuck pig, hanging from that meat hook...He was gonna kill me, no doubt about it."

"You're welcome for the rescue, by the way," I pointed out.

Dom just stared at me, and I could tell there was a bit of gratitude in his eyes, but he quickly looked back down to his glass. "Yeah, I'm sure wherever Roy's hiding out these days, he's got a big 'I told you so' look on his face."

I looked up at the ceiling, taking in all of this information as Dom sipped his drink. Suddenly, certain things were beginning to make more sense to me. That night, when I first went to deal with Fonzie, I'd overheard him making a call to someone on his cellphone to have cars waiting for Fonzie on the corner of McKone and Lemire. Sure enough, not long after, Fonzie and her men had gotten into a massive shoot-out there with a rival gang. I knew Roy had to have been the one to set the whole thing up, but I didn't know why. It felt like maybe he was working for another gang, but after that whole thing went down, word was that he completely dropped out of sight. Could it have been that he simply disapproved of using Superhumans? Is that why he turned on his former boss?

"No doubt, getting involved with Solution was a bad idea," Dom muttered as he headed back to his seat.

"...Wait, 'Solution'?" I asked, confused.

"They're the ones that Fonzie got in touch with about recruiting Superhumans as henchmen," Dom explained, practically flopping into his seat. "I don't know much about 'em, other than they're involved in a lot of research on Superhumans, and may or may not themselves be the ones in charge of the Superhuman trade that Cleaveland came from. I only ever met one guy from that group, when he came to see Fonzie about some details, and personally, the guy gave me the creeps. Was like one of those evil scientists you just KNOW is working on building a death ray or making clones to replace people with or something. Kept insisting we all let him take blood samples."

"And Fonzie didn't have any other ties to anyone else involved with Superhumans?" I inquired.

"If she did, she didn't tell me about it," Dom said simply. "And that's all I know about it."

I huffed a little, thinking everything over. I guess I was a little disappointed. I was hoping maybe it turned out Alfonso was secretly working with some evil organization bent on taking over the world or something. But I guess that was just me hoping for something a little more solid to tie her dealings with this Solution group to the Superhumans who attacked me the day before, and abducted all those people.

And it was at that exact moment, when I thought about the abductions, that something clicked in my head. "...Wait. You said the scientist from Solution wanted blood samples? Why?"

"Well, he wouldn't tell anyone," Dom explained. "Just, whoever gave him a blood sample, he'd run it through some kinda scanner and say they were clean. I think he was testing us for diseases or something. Of course, Roy kept insisting maybe he was looking for more Superhumans to run tests on. Stupid, right?"

I swallowed hard, the pieces in my head coming together. "D-Did that scanner look like some kind of weird egg beater with these weird flashing lights on it?"

Now it was Dom's turn to look surprised. "...Yeah. Why?"

I didn't say anything, but I'm sure my skin was probably ghostly pale. I just turned and phased through his wall, taking off into the sky. Once I was a block away from the building, I reached into one of the hidden pockets in my skirt and pulled out my cellphone, dialing up Dad. It only took a few seconds for her to answer, but it felt like minutes. Minutes where my mind was racing super hard.

"...Hey, how'd it go?" I heard Dad answer.

"Get out of the house!" I yelled. "You're not safe there! Head for Scotty's, and I'll meet you there with Olette!"

"W-Wait, honey, what's going on?!" Dad demanded, a little confused.

"I know why those people were abducted!" I answered. "They were Superhumans!"


	7. Chapter 7

"Y'know, I always knew it was lucky my parents weren't home much, but I figured it was so that I could work in quiet," Scotty observed as the lot of us stood around in his apartment. "...Guess I can say goodbye to that now, huh?"

"I'm sorry, Scotty, but we just didn't have anywhere else to hide," I apologized as I paced back and forth in the living room, still in Olette's sailor fuku. "Olette's family don't know about me being Starslip, and there was no other way to explain why we'd need to crash there for a while."

Scotty sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "...Well, I mean, I guess if you're gonna stay for a bit, you can at least make yourselves useful. I've been putting the last few touches on a new cosplay for a friend, and I need someone to model it. Ken, you think you could? You're about the right size."

My dad moaned in annoyance, but complied, heading to the back. "...So, let's just go over what we know again?"

"An organization called Solution is abducting Superhumans to run tests on them in a lab somewhere," Olette summarized. "Oh, and they may also be sending them away to paying customers as part of an underground Superhuman slave trade."

"I'm still a little lost on HOW they knew to find Superhumans here," Scotty admitted. "You said Dom told you that the guy who visited them took blood samples to scan. None of the people who were abducted had blood samples taken."

"Not while they were there, no," I replied.

"I think I know where she's going with this!" Dad called from Scotty's room. "If they've found a way to enhance those scanners to find people they already HAVE blood samples of, it'd be easier to track them down!"

"Okay, but how'd they GET them in the first place?" Scotty asked.

"Hospitals," Olette answered. "They've gotta have people working undercover in hospitals, scanning blood samples and sending info on any Superhumans living in the city back to their lab."

"They did tests on me in the hospital," I explained. "If they got ahold of anything that would tell them I'm a Superhuman, they'd come right after me, and probably at my house."

Scotty nodded, getting the idea. "Well, I mean, they probably coulda gotten you at the hospital, too, but...Well, maybe there just wasn't enough time to relay the info. OR, maybe they didn't take any of your blood to run tests on."

I nodded. "Right, so it IS possible we're hiding for nothing, but-"

"But we can't risk it," Scotty finished, understanding. "Hey, it's no problem. Until you know for sure, mi casa es vuestra casa."

I smiled, a little relieved, before Scotty turned to head to his room. At least now I knew that Dad and I had somewhere safe to stay until all of this blew over, assuming it did. The truth was, if Solution got ahold of information that I was a Superhuman, they'd never stop chasing me. And I knew it wasn't exactly the same, but in my head, I couldn't help but draw the parallel to what my mom did, running away to protect me and Dad. Except I wasn't planning on just hiding.

"What I don't get is, if they were looking for Superhumans, why didn't they try to take you in the fight?" Olette asked.

"Well, none of those people that were abducted had powers!" Dad pointed out. "At least, none that were public! Maybe they're actually trying to track down Superhumans whose powers haven't activated yet!"

"What's the point of that, though?" Olette wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but we gotta get more information soon," I replied. "Any word yet from the Star Link?"

Olette shook her head. "Either no one's heard of this Solution group, or no one's talking. Honestly, I'm a little worried someone from Solution might even be in the group. If anyone talks-"

"I know, but we can't not use our best resources just because they MIGHT be listening," I said with a sigh. "We have to risk it."

"So, what's the game plan then, exactly?!" Scotty asked from his room.

"Find the lab, shut it down, free the people they've taken hostage!" I answered.

"We'll probably have to clean out the-OW!" my dad started to add. "Not so tight, Scotty!...Anyway, we're gonna have to clean out their records on confirmed Superhumans, or they could just come back for those people again!"

"Ooh, me, that's a me job!" Olette volunteered, raising a hand and bouncing a little.

"Oh, no no no, you're NOT going to that lab!" I exclaimed.

"C'mon, you need someone to clear those records!" Olette insisted. "I can just slip in while you're doing your thing, and no one will even notice I'm there!"

"NO, dammit!" I yelled, stomping my foot that I MAY have subconsciously hardened a little too much. "I'm not debating this with you again! It's too dangerous!"

"H-Hey, um, I don't wanna interrupt, but could you guys maybe wanna take this somewhere where the other tenants won't complain to my folks?" Scotty asked meekly as he peered out his door to us.

I blushed a little, realizing Scotty was right. I HAD stomped pretty hard on the floor. Looking back to Olette, we both exchanged a quick, angry nod, before I grabbed hold of her and flew with her out the side of the building. Eventually, we managed to find someplace devoid of any people where we could talk: An empty lot just down the street. Once we touched down, Olette immediately wrestled out of my grip before turning to face me. Her eyes just looked so angry, angrier than she'd EVER been with me. And, I'm not gonna lie, I was a little scared. Not scared of her expression, mind you, but scared of what it meant, what it was leading to. And lemme tell you something: I'd rather get into super-powered brawls any day than get into a fight with Olette.

"Okay, you wanna explain just what the hell your problem is?!" Olette demanded.

"My problem is YOU, constantly wanting to put yourself in danger!" I exclaimed. "How many times do I have to say this?! YOU DO NOT HAVE POWERS! You are putting yourself in dangerous situations, just on the off-chance it might give you powers, but it might also get you killed!"

"I wouldn't die!" Olette argued. "You'd be there with me! Nothing could happen to me if you were there with me!"

"Yeah, 'cuz I'm doing a REALLY good job of protecting people right now!" I pointed out. "I can barely protect myself!"

"We could protect each other!" Olette insisted. "That's what partners do!"

" **WE'RE NOT PARTNERS!** " I screamed.

Olette didn't say anything. She just took a step back and looked away. But I could see them plain as day: Tears, forming in the corners of her eyes. Her lip was starting to quiver, and I could see her hands reaching up toward her chest, shaking a little. I just told my girlfriend, my best friend, my soul mate, that we were not partners. OLETTE. Sweet, kind, sensitive Olette.

_Great,_  I thought.  _Good job, Cassie, you stupid idiot. Why don't you just tell her you're going straight? Really break her heart?_

"I'm sorry, I..." I muttered, rubbing my arm. "I didn't mean it like that, I swear. I-"

"I KNOW how you meant it," O interjected, placing her hands over her heart and trying to control her breathing. "You meant like...like partners in the field. Superhero partners."

I sighed hard, feeling my heart pound in my chest. "Why does that mean so much to you? Being a superhero? I know you've always admired and idolized heroes, but I didn't know-"

"It's not about that," Olette admitted, the tears running down her cheeks freely. "I just wanna help you."

"But you already do," I insisted, reaching out for her.

"No!" O exclaimed, stepping out of my reach and looking me in the eye. "I wanna help you when you're fighting people who could hurt you. Who could KILL you. If you had died, fighting those guys at the eatery... ...it'd be my fault."

"What, just because you weren't there?" I asked, confused.

"Because YOU were," Olette explained. "Because YOU were there...when it was MY idea."

My eyes widened a little bit as it suddenly dawned on me what she was talking about. When I first got my powers, and I didn't know what was happening to me, or what I was, it was Olette who had suggested that I might be some kind of superhero. It was Olette who wanted to test my powers to see what I could do. It was Olette who first came up with the idea to have Scotty make my costume. Now I understood the problem.

"...Olette," I said calmly, "I know it was your idea for me to be a superhero, but...the truth is, becoming one has been the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm out there, every day, helping people, like I always wanted. And, I dunno, maybe I wouldn't have gotten a cape and costume without you, but I probably would've tried using my powers to help people anyway even if you hadn't come up with the idea. That's just who I am."

"I know, I know," Olette stammered, sobbing. "I just, I keep thinking about everything you do, everything you've been through...I just keep thinking about what would've happened if me and your dad and Scotty hadn't shown up when Cleaveland was beating the shit out of you, and I...I..."

Now it was my turn to start tearing up. I really can't help it. Anytime I see that girl start to cry, I get all weepy too. Not to mention, it never occurred to me what she'd just said. Not that I never thought of what would've happened to me in the fight with Cleaveland had everyone not come around and shot those beams of light down on him, that thought finds its way into my nightmares almost once a week. I mean that SHE had the same thought. Probably not even about just that, either, but all of the other times I was in life or death situations and barely got through by the skin of my teeth. The truth was, I WAS in danger, a lot...and Olette could do nothing but watch most of the time.

Y'know, it's ironic. When I got my powers, I wondered why it was me and not Olette. Surely she deserved to be a superhero more than me. She was the really strong one out of the two of us. Not to mention, she probably wanted it more, to be the one in tights and sailing around in the sky. And surely she'd be a lot better at it, a lot safer and smarter. At least, that's what I thought. But looking at it now, the truth was, if I was in her shoes, if I had to watch her throw herself into danger every day with no way to help her, I'd be every bit as scared as she was.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I didn't know...I should've known, and I didn't know, and...and I-"

Before I could finish, Olette's cellphone let out a little ping sound, cutting me off. Wiping her face, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, looking it over. Coming over to her side, I looked down at the screen to see that she'd pulled up the Star Link. Sure enough, there was a message from someone saying they had information on Solution, and to have Starslip meet them. Only problem was, they were asking to meet at a club on the south side that used to belong to Fonzie, and now belonged to a group of thugs that had marched in and taken that part of her turf while she was underground.

"Oh, THAT has 'trap' written all over it," I observed.

"We can't not use our best resources just because it MIGHT be a trap," Olette reminded me. "...Besides, if it's someone who had connections to Fonzie, maybe they know something Dom didn't?"

I nodded. "Okay, I'll check it out. And when I get back-"

"I know," O said with a nod. "I know...We'll talk then."

I nodded back, kissing Olette softly and whispering in her ear "...And for the record, YOU'RE the real superhero here." With that, I took off into the air, headed for the club, trying my best to focus on what was next and how to handle it if it WAS a trap. But, truth was, my head was still back there with Olette, and wondering just how in the hell I was going to make this okay between us, or if there even WAS one...


	8. Chapter 8

I let out a sigh as I landed on a rooftop across the street from the club. Looking it over, it had the words "House Ebon" written on it in big, neon, blue letters. It also had all the telltale signs of being a club I was definitely not old enough to enter, what with the main sign also having the outline of a rather busty woman on it. Not the kind of place teenage girls should be anywhere near. What was odd, though, was that there looked to be a lot of couples going in, so it couldn't be a strip club. That seemed more like the kind of place guys go without their girlfriends.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to sneak in," I said into my phone. "Who am I looking for, exactly?"

"Some guy named Joe Johns," Olette answered. "And, wouldn't you know it, he's a newbie to the group. Surprise, surprise."

"Take it easy, Homepage," I muttered, floating over toward an alleyway behind the club. "Did he say where to meet him?"

"There's a kitchen near the back of the building on the second floor," O replied. "He said he'd be waiting there."

I nodded, phasing through the back wall and making my way into the second floor of the club, making sure to stick to ceilings and wall corners and try not to be seen. As soon as I got it, I could smell something odd about the place. At first, I worried I was smelling drugs, but then it occurred to me, it was the scent of sweat. A LOT of sweat. Then my ears picked up the sounds of moaning and squeaking. And then, my eyes saw the silhouettes of a person grinding up against another cast on a wall, and it didn't take much else to figure out what was going on.

"...Homepage?" I whispered into my phone. "Where is Dad right now?"

"Modelling a Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man costume for Scotty," O responded. "Why?"

"Because I think I'm in a VERY ADULT CLUB," I answered. "Please do not tell him."

"My lips are sealed," Olette replied. "Should probably hang up anyway, just in case. Just make sure you report back EVERYTHING."

"I am NOT peeking at people doing God-knows-what at this club!" I exclaimed in as hushed a voice as possible.

"I meant with Johns," Olette explained. "But thanks for the assurance."

I rolled my eyes, hanging up the phone. As stealthily as I could, I made my way through the halls of House Ebon, trying my best to block out the sounds and smells of the people making use of the club's accommodations. Luckily, it didn't take long to find my way to the kitchen. Peering in, I saw that there was only one person there: The chef. I quickly spotted the name tag "Johns" on his shirt. Something didn't feel right, but I had to be absolutely sure.

"...Joe Johns?" I asked, touching down onto the floor.

Joe jumped almost a full three feet into the air. "Wh-what?! What do you want?! Why are you here?!"

"Calm down," I said, trying to keep my voice down. "I got your message. What do you know about Solution?"

"S-Solution?" the chef asked, looking confused. "Message? What are you talking about?"

My eyes narrowed as the truth dawned on me. "...You didn't send a message through the Star Link?"

[Oh, he did,] I heard a voice say in my head. [He just doesn't remember.]

I whirled around, looking for the source of the voice, but found nothing. "Who's there?!"

"I-It's alright, it's just the owner...!" the chef assured me, and now it was my turn to be utterly confused. "I know, it's strange, hearing her voice in your head, but you get used to it after a while."

[You'll have to forgive me, but I couldn't risk having any kind of connection to you or your group traced back to me,] the voice, the so-called owner of the club, went on. [I had Joseph here join your server, and then volunteer information you might need when you needed it. Of course, he doesn't remember, because I was acting through him.]

I started to sweat a little. "...Who are you?"

[Come to my chambers, and you'll find out,] the owner explained, their voice suddenly sounding far more feminine and...alluring somehow. [Top floor. Can't miss it. And don't worry about keeping up the stealth approach. No one here will stop you.]

My eye twitched a little, but I nodded in agreement. Looking up at the ceiling, I levitated upward and phased through it, continuing to do so until I'd reached the fourth and final floor of the club. Immediately, I noticed the smell of scented candles, and the beautiful blue and silver drapes and carpet running throughout the large room. Then I turned around, and I saw her standing in the middle of the room: the owner of the club.

Her skin was all a light grey, her hair was completely black, and her eyes and lips were a violet-blue. She wore a black, hooded trench-coat over a blue top and black jeans. But what stood out most about her clothes was the armour. She had tough, sharp-looking, dark blue pieces of armour in the form of gauntlets, greaves, and shoulder pads. They looked deadly, and made the woman with an intimidating glare look all the more intimidating as she looked me over.

"...You know, I was expecting you to be a little taller," the woman observed, a hand on her hip while the other stroked her chin. "And a little less...anime-ish. But, I suppose that's to be expected from a 16-year-old borrowing her girlfriend's costume."

If I wasn't sweating already, I would've started at that point. "...I-I'm not-"

"Oh, please, I know," the woman went on, rolling her eyes. "I know everything about you, CASSIE. And yes, I know, you're going on 17. Mazel tov."

I swallowed, realized now exactly what I was dealing with. "...You're some kind of telepath."

"See, I knew you'd catch on eventually," the owner of the club said with a sly smile as the two of us started to circle the room, keeping a few feet between us. "A little slow, but not stupid."

"...Got a name?" I asked, trying to sound like I still had control of the situation.

"Several, actually," the woman replied with a shrug. "Can't say as I remember the one given to me first, though. Nowadays, though...you can call me Ebon Queen."

"And you're the one who took control of the club from Fonzie?" I inquired.

"No, that would've been the club's former owner," Ebon Queen explained, turning her back to me and making her way toward a folding screen. "Sorry, I don't usually dress like this around the house. Only when I want to make a good first impression. You mind?"

I just stood there, baffled by this statement, as the woman slipped behind the folding screen. Pretty soon, I could tell it was just see-through enough that you could make out the outline of whoever was behind it. She ran her hand along the screen as she got behind it, and slowly started to disrobe, and it didn't take me long to realize she was having fun with me. So, I turned away, blushing hard at the thought.

"Ha, such a shy girl," Queen remarked from behind the screen. "I'd honestly forgotten what it's like to be so meek and easily-embarrassed."

My jaw dropped, about to voice my indignation over that, when she quickly said, "It's alright to turn around, now." So, I did...and, in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have been surprised that she was now dressed in a long, elegant, partially see-through nightgown. She smirked as she caught me staring, and walked over to the edge of the super king-size bed, taking a seat on it. Watching her, all I could think of was those old-school femme fatales from Dad's novels, playing their games and trying to seduce the hero. Only this one could FAR more easily get inside my head and mess with me.

"So, let's talk business then," Ebon suggested, crossing her legs.

Shaking off my shock at her appearance, I focused on getting the information I wanted. "...What do you know about Solution?"

"That they're a bunch of bastards with no manners, no sense of decency, and lousy accommodations," Ebon Queen explained, earning a confused look. "...Oh, come now, you're from a family of detectives, try and guess why I know that."

"...You were part of their slave trade," I realized.

Ebon nodded. "...Go on."

"You were sold to someone here in Star Lake," I went on. "...Fonzie?"

"Her first super-powered play thing," Ebon Queen remarked. "But, she wanted something with a bit more brute force, so she sold me to my next owner in exchange for some new territory, and some new guns. Then, she disappeared, having to go underground after that little mishap a few months ago, my master took over this place, and now...I have it. As well as my freedom."

"And what happened to the old owner?" I asked, feeling like I already knew the answer to the question.

"What do you THINK happened to him?" Queen replied, running a finger delicately across her neck with a smile. "Isn't it always amazing how easily people in this town just...disappear?"

I grit my teeth a little. "...You didn't have to do that. With your abilities, you could've walked away and-"

"Why do you think that little quintet of Superhumans are rounding up other Superhumans for an organization that likes to poke and prod and examine us for their own morbid curiosity?" Ebon demanded, sounding a little agitated. "If it was simply a matter of being told what to do, with abilities like theirs, don't you think they would rebel against that kind of crap?"

Before I could ask, Ebon turned around on the bed and lifted her hair, revealing a scar at the base of her neck. "Special little implants designed to send our bodies signals that mess with our minds and make us more susceptible to submission, more open to suggestion. Every single one of us was outfitted with the same implant, and each routed to a control unit held by our current owners. Your hulking friend in his fancy greenhouse cell is likely included."

My lip quivered a tiny bit as the implication of that became all too clear to me. "That's...that's horrible. But-"

"But, you're still correct," Ebon Queen acknowledged, turning back to face me. "With my abilities, it would've been possible to resist the implant. Still, my last owner was a bit...persuasive. He had ways of keeping me under his control."

"An ordinary human was able to control you?" I asked, not entirely buying it. "How the hell did he-AHH!"

Right before I could finish what I was saying, I fell to the floor, a searing, burning sensation running through my left leg. My hands immediately went to it, checking for blood, but there was nothing. Looking up, I watched as Queen slowly lifted her gown a bit, revealing a round dot on the skin of her left leg, right where the pain in my body was coming from.

"H-He...shot you...!" I panted through the pain. "...H-How am I...?!"

"Do you know how easy it is to fool the brain?" Ebon asked, getting up from her bed and walking towards me, the top drawer of one of her dressers opening as if by magic and a pistol floating out to her open hand. "Do you know how many signals it gets through the ordinary run of a day from the different parts of your body, letting it know the different feelings and sensations you have? What do you suppose would happen if, say, it suddenly got all the wrong signals? And I know exactly what signals to send the brain to emulate different sensations, because I've felt everything you're feeling right now."

Realizing what she meant, I started to pull myself up. "...Why...should I trust anything you-"

"Because if I REALLY wanted you dead right now, if that was my goal in luring you here?" Ebon explained, standing overtop of me and holding her gun in my face. "I could. Right now."

"You really think y-" I started to retort until Queen cut me off by pulling the trigger. No warning, no time to focus on turning solid or intangible, just pulled the trigger...only, there was nothing. The gun wasn't loaded. Suddenly, the pain racking my body came to a halt. I couldn't even really recall all that well how it felt, only that I'd felt it. Looking up, I watched as Queen lowered the gun, keeping it pointed away, and then removed herself from her position overtop of me, instead walking back to the dresser and putting the gun away as I got back to my feet.

"...And, for the record, he did FAR worse than shoot me," Ebon went on. "You want to be able to sleep soundly at night from now on? Never ask what he did to me."

"...What do you want?" I asked, shaking the cobwebs in my head free.

"I want you to destroy Solution," Ebon finally admitted, as I suddenly found myself being helped to my feet, seemingly by no one. "I tried going back to the place where they had kept me for most of my life, and I found nothing but an empty, half-demolished building. And I haven't encountered anyone yet with the information I need. However, with the appearance of those five, trying to abduct Superhumans from the city, it seems my opportunity to find their new lab has presented itself. But, even with my abilities, it's unlikely I'd survive a direct confrontation with them. In short, I need your help."

"Why are you even asking for my help?" I inquired, still confused. "Why not force me to do it? You controlled Johns just fine before."

"Stronger minds limit the amount I can do with them," Queen replied. "Someone like Johns, a simple-minded chef, is easily to manipulate, like a puppet. You, on the other hand...well, believe it or not, that little display of mine took a bit more effort than it would with most."

I frowned, crossing my arms. "Maybe you're not going to kill me, but you ARE still a criminal. This place isn't legal under the laws set by the city."

"Neither is someone your age entering a place of business meant for adults," Queen countered. "And, I would just like to point out, I haven't smuggled weapons or drugs, and the only person I've ever killed was my former owner. In fact, I've provided you with information regarding people that have kidnapped innocents and caused large amounts of property damage throughout the city. So, yes, I AM a criminal, but I'm one who has never caused you or any innocents in this city harm, and can be a valuable asset to you...if you'll help me."

I sighed, thinking it over. In truth, I didn't have much reason to trust anything Ebon Queen said, but part of me said she was being honest with me. And she WAS offering to help me deal with a serious threat to the city and the people who lived there. Even though a voice in my head kept telling me not to trust her, that this was a mistake, if it meant making sure no one else got hurt or kidnapped or even worse the next time the group that played ping pong with me before showed up, wasn't it worth the risk?

Before I could make up my mind though, my phone started ringing, so I pulled it out and answered. "Hello?"

"Cassie, they're back!" O yelled over the line.

I let out a hard sigh, not having to ask who "they" were. "...Got it. Where are they?"

I can only imagine what Ebon Queen was thinking, watching my face right then as Olette told me the location of the next attack. All I know is that I felt my blood turn ice cold, and I almost dropped the phone. I'm sure I even shook a little bit, terrified at what might be happening at that exact moment. I looked into Ebon's eyes, knowing she knew exactly what was being said, and was just waiting to see what I'd say in response.

"...We're on our way."


	9. Chapter 9

So, here's a question: You ever walk into a situation that you just KNOW is gonna wind up bad? Like, there's no possible way anything good can come from entering this scenario, it HAS to end badly? And worse, it's one you COULD avoid, but you can't because avoiding it goes against everything that you are, everything that makes you the person you are. You just go in, and hope that the bad doesn't turn out to be TOO bad.

That was pretty much Charlotte when she got home from checking in on her friends from school at the hospital. Now, I wasn't there, but I know what she told me, so I'm gonna defer to her on this one...because I don't have a choice. And for once, it wasn't because she was expecting hell from her parents for going out when they told her not to. She could tell, from the absence of the family car, that they weren't home. No, she knew there was going to be a problem from something else she saw: Tiny cracks in the walkway leading up to the house that weren't there when she left.

_Oh, shit,_  Charlotte thought, speeding up her walk to the front door.

"Hello?!" Charlotte called out as she entered the house, immediately noticing a few pictures and portraits on the floor. "Trevor?! You home?!"

"...Y-Yeah!" a voice called out from her brother's bedroom.

Hearing her brother stammer like that, Charlotte dashed for his room. Seeing the door was already ajar, she pushed it open, and felt herself get a little ill from what she saw: It was her brother, Trevor, sitting on his bed, his arms around his legs, rocking a little. His room was a mess. And not the kind of mess you have when you're a little kid who doesn't pick up after themselves, either. I mean, his posters were on the floor, his overhead light had fallen from the ceiling, and his entire computer desk had fallen over, his monitor busted.

"...Oh God, bro," Charlotte whispered, slowly walking in.

"Don't!" Trevor yelled, the room letting loose a small shake that vibrated everything inside a little bit. "I don't...I wanna be left alone."

Charlotte sighed, looking her brother in the eye. "...No, you don't."

Trevor looked down, gripping his pant-legs tightly. "...No, I don't. But I don't want you to get hurt."

"Hey, who's the tough one here, me or you?" Charlotte asked with a grin, finally managing to get a tiny smile from her brother before sitting down next to him. "...So, you wanna talk about it, or do you wanna play 20 Questions?"

Trevor groaned, laying back on the bed. "I just kept thinking about yesterday, and what happened at your school. What would've happened if-"

Charlotte frowned, looking away. "Yeah. Good thing for me, I decided to cut classes after what happened with Louise. Who knew juvenile delinquency would save my ass, huh?"

"Not Mom and Dan, that's for sure," Trevor remarked, staring up at his ceiling. "And I just, I couldn't keep it in any more. I lost control."

Charlotte laid back next to her brother, looking at the same spot as him: Where his light fixture used to be. She's never told me exactly WHEN it happened, or how, but at some point, Trevor started to go through some changes. As in, the same kinda changes I went through before. They'd been trying their best to keep it from their parents. Probably because they were afraid they'd think he was some kind of freak. Considering their perfectionist views, though, that's probably not the most unfounded fear to have. Thing is, though, his anxiety usually made it hard to control his powers, and hiding something like that from their parents only made his anxiety worse. And Charlotte...Well, here's the thing: She would never admit it, but I think a big part of why she was trying to clean up her image wasn't just about what had happened between me and her before. I think it was about trying to be a positive role model for her brother, who was finding himself in a situation where he REALLY needed one that was close by.

"...It's gonna be okay," Charlotte assured her brother, getting a tiny scoff in reply. "No, really, we can just put everything back, and...well, we can probably find a second-hand monitor pretty cheap."

"Charlotte, what are we gonna tell Mom and Dan?" Trevor asked. "That we were the victims of a localized earthquake?"

Hearing this, Charlotte sighed, knowing her brother was right. There was no way they could rationally explain this without either telling the truth or telling a lie that could get them in every bit of trouble as the truth could. Before she could even formulate a plan, though, a loud rumble echoed through the house as the whole building shook.

Charlotte sat straight up, eyes wide, right as another, louder, harder one hit. "Trevor, I know you're upset, but-"

"Uh, not me!" Trevor explained, getting a little panicky as they both hopped off the bed.

The two redheads scrambled to the front door as they realized the shaking was coming from just outside. Opening the door, they both stood in terror at the sight of the same five who had attacked the city the day before, and torn up the school. Tower Woman was standing over the whole lot of them, glaring down with a cocky grin as Trevor and Charlotte both stared back up at her.

"Hello there!" Tower Woman called, a hand on her hip. "Any chance you could both come out to play?"

Barely missing a beat, Charlotte immediately slammed the door closed and locked it. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to do much. Right away, the glass panes in the windows next to the door pulled themselves free and began spinning in midair like saw blades. Grabbing his sister's arm, Trevor ran for the other door out of the house, hoping they could make their escape. Unfortunately, right as he opened the door, he found himself getting grabbed by the collar by Frost Warning.

"Running's not gonna help here, boy!" Frost Warning...erm, warned, sending a cold chill through Trevor's body. "Just come quietly!"

"Let him go, asshole!" Charlotte yelled, grabbing a chair and holding it up to slam into Frost Warning, only for it to get blown apart by a blast of electricity shot by Thunder Cloud.

"CHARLOTTE!" Trevor screamed as his sister fell to the floor from the shock of the chair blowing apart in her hands.

"We won't ask again," Edge growled through his voice filter.

Trevor's eyes twitched in horror as he saw Charlotte on the floor, wincing in pain. Suddenly, though, that same fear turned to anger. He turned his head to face Frost Warning, gritting his teeth and growling. A slow yell began to emerge from his mouth, all the while the ground underneath his five attackers shook hard. Before Frost Warning could react, Trevor swung both feet into his gut, knocking him to the shaking ground.

" **GET OUT!** " Trevor yelled, stomping the ground as a massive piece of it suddenly shot up from underneath Frost Warning, sending him sailing into Tower Woman's skull and knocking her down with a loud thud.

"Dammit, his powers have already manifested!" Edge observed as he, Thunder Cloud, and Sap all grouped together. "Shut him down!"

Thunder Cloud let out a horrid shriek, unleashing bolts of lightning from her body at Trevor. He cried out in pain as the electricity ripped through his body, but quickly called up columns of earth to shield him. As he did, though, Sap suddenly floated over them on a pane of glass and dropped down onto him, pressing her hands tightly to his face. He tried to pull her off, but he could feel himself weakening, which only got worse as she planted a hard lip-lock on him, sapping his strength and causing the stone columns to retract back into the ground.

"Let...him go...!" Charlotte demanded, shakily getting to her feet, even though she knew there was no way to stop these people attacking them.

...Lucky for her, that's when I showed up.

"What she said!" I yelled, wrapping an arm around Sap's throat as I tried to choke her out.

Sap released Trevor and tried her damnedest to reach back and grab hold of anywhere on me that had skin showing, but that was a little tricky. I'd figured out how her powers worked from the last time, and this time, I had my cloak wrapped around my arms and most of my face, keeping as much of my body covered as I could. Looking up, I saw the glass pane she'd been standing on before start to spin like it was gonna come down and try to slice me up, but that was quickly shot down...literally, by about half a dozen bullets.

"Don't try to cut in on their dance, boy," Ebon Queen snarked, a pair of handguns trained on Edge and Thunder Cloud.

"Take your own advice, bitch!" Tower Woman shouted as she got back up, swinging a giant fist at Ebon Queen.

Queen took one look at the fist headed her way and leaped off the roof, right as the part where she was standing got broken clean off and went tumbling into the yard. Once down, she had to run and dodge around blasts of electricity flung by the screaming Thunder Cloud. Meanwhile, the ground was starting the shake under my feet, right before a small boulder shot up and caught me in the back, forcing me to let go of Sap. She aimed a fist at me, but was knocked to the floor by Charlotte, who had taken the opportunity to grab a frying pan from the kitchen and clonked her in the head.

"Thanks!" I moaned, trying my best to shake off being hit in the back by a boulder.

"What the hell do these freaks even wa-AAAH!" Charlotte yelled, right as the roof was actually pulled free by a now 30 foot tall Tower Woman.

"No more games!" Tower Woman bellowed, reaching a hand down toward us. "It's time we got what we came here for!"

Before I could react, something came whizzing into view: A small, yellow throwing star of some sort. It blew up in Tower Woman's face, gumming up her eyes with adhesive goop as she cried out in pain and frustration. It didn't take too long for her to rip the goop off her face, getting her vision back, but by that time, Trevor had gotten his second wind and actually torn open the ground under one of her feet, making her trip and fall across the street. Flying up through the massive hole where the ceiling was, I quickly spotted the source of the throwing star: Olette, hiding behind a house, my dad's car not far away.

"O!" I yelled, sailing down to her in a huff. "I told you-"

"I know!" Olette interjected, pulling out a briefcase. "...I know. But I couldn't let you handle this without the proper gear. It's still missing a few pieces, but..."

I blinked in surprise, looking down at the briefcase. Opening it up, my surprise turned to awe at what I saw. It was a costume, a lot like my old one, but this one looked to be made of thicker material. It also had wrist, shoulder, and knee guards added on. The mask even had lens built into it. I looked back up at Olette, and I'm sure my face was just priceless, what with my jaw nearly on the ground and my eyes the size of small moons.

"...Happy birthday," Olette whispered with a half-smile.

My knees shook a little in excitement as my lips curled into a wide smile. "...Olette? When we graduate high school, I am going to rock your freaking world."

"I'll hold you to that," O replied, leaning in to kiss the tip of my nose. "Now put on your suit and go kick ass."

I nodded, pulling the new costume free and holding it up. Slowly, I let my body go intangible, Olette's sailor fuku slipping off as the new suit took its place. I quickly put the rest of the pieces on, sliding my boots on and locking my new belt into place. Then I put on my mask, and to my surprise, little displays started showing up on the lens, giving tiny read-outs of the things in its view. I turned to face the battle, and it gave read-outs on the five Superhumans attacking us and listed all known information on their abilities and estimates on their current stamina levels.

"How long have you been working on this?!" I demanded in utter shock.

"Later!" Olette insisted. "Go get 'em, lover!"

With a quick nod, I flew back into battle. Right away, I noticed that Thunder Cloud had Ebon pinned down behind some rubble from the roof. I immediately reached down into my belt, looking for a gel pellet, and instead found that they'd been replaced with the same sort of throwing stars as the one Olette had thrown. My mind immediately went back to a conversation my dad and I had a little while after I'd first become Starslip, about some sort of throwing star he and Scotty were working on, and I found myself wondering if this was the ACTUAL costume Scotty had intended for me all along, and if the original was just a prototype.

Pushing that thought out of my head for now, though, I grabbed a star and chucked it at Thunder Cloud. She managed to blast it apart before it hit her, but most of the gel still sprayed across her body. It didn't keep her gooed up for long, but it was still long enough for me to swoop in and knock her out cold with a flying sidekick to the face. I dug my heels into the ground hard as I touched down, looking up as I found myself the center of attention for Edge.

"You want some next?!" I challenged, clenching both fists.

Edge hissed a little through his mask as he got ready to fight, only for an over-sized slab of ice to suddenly grow between us. Looking to the source, I saw Frost Warning, back on his feet, with his fist slammed down into the ground. Behind him, I saw Sap was likewise back up, and holding an unconscious Charlotte in her arms. It was at that point, seeing her like that, that it suddenly hit me what was really going on: Their actual target tonight was Charlotte.

"LET HER GO!" Trevor yelled, rushing them, only to find himself getting hit hard by a tire being chucked at him by Tower Woman, sending him crashing into Ebon Queen as she likewise got up to help.

"C'mon, we got what we came for!" Tower Woman screamed.

"But Thunder Cloud!" Edge shouted back as I started to fly up and over the ice.

"There's no time!" Frost Warning roared, waving his hand to create a thick wave of snow that launched out at me. I held up my arms, keeping the blisteringly cold snow from impacting my face. By the time the snow had stopped, they were gone, leaving Ebon Queen, Trevor, Thunder Cloud, and I amidst the rubble of Trevor and Charlotte's home. Even my mask wasn't able to pick them up anymore.

"Dammit!" I cursed, slamming a fist down into the slab of ice.

"Someone wanna help get this guy off of me?" Ebon moaned, laying under Trevor, who was out cold.

"I'm here!" Olette called out, running over from where she was hiding before to help pull Trevor off, immediately noticing the blood running down his face. "Oh God, we gotta get him some help!"

I floated back down to the ground, trying to focus as my dad's car slowly pulled in closer. "Right. Help who we can first."

"Well, with any luck, THIS one can tell us how to help your friend," Ebon offered, getting to her feet and gesturing at Thunder Cloud.

I nodded shakily, standing in the middle of the ruined yard. I could hear everyone calling out instructions to each other, and the sound of sirens off in the distance, but it all just sounded like muted background noise. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get past the fact that, for the second time in a row, I'd failed to keep Solution's thugs from taking someone. Only this time, it was a close friend. My old bully. And I knew, in that moment, I was done letting these people have their way. I was going to do everything I could to get Charlotte back, or I was going to die trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...So yeah, this was a pretty long wait, huh? lol Sorry about that, it's just, while I know how the story ends, it's just plotting out the next few chapters that's gonna be kinda tricky for me. Not to mention artjams and whatnot got in the way. So whether or not this means that the remaining chapters will all be out in a timely fashion, I have no idea. Just try to bare with me for the next little while.
> 
> As for Cassie's new costume this chapter, this is her combat suit. I'll be showing off its full capabilities pretty soon, but basically, this is the suit that Scotty had intended for her from the beginning. It's also loosely based on the artwork that Koala the Artist did for me on Deviant Art way back in the day.
> 
> Anyway, if you have any further questions, lemme know below, but just so you know? Expect the next chapter either tomorrow or Saturday. :)


	10. Chapter 10

"...Interesting hiding place," Ebon observed in a deadpan tone as she and I sat with my dad, Olette, and Scotty in a circle around Scotty's living room.

"Cut the lip," Dad replied sternly before turning to face me. "How's Trevor?"

"He's hurt, but he'll be okay," I answered, looking down at my clenched hands in my lap. "His parents are freaking out. He kept insisting on trying to go after Charlotte. Doctor had to sedate him."

"I still don't get it," Olette admitted. "Why Charlotte? Why kidnap her?"

Queen rolled her eyes, folding one leg over the other. "Isn't it obvious? She has the Superhuman gene. Same as her brother, and presumably her mother."

"Which is why they're staying at an off-the-grid medical facility that's being watched by the cops," I pointed out. "We can't trust the hospital right now, and even if we could, there are a ton of hurt and sick people staying there that would be in danger if it was attacked."

Olette's shoulders slumped, groaning in annoyance. "...Seriously, though, CHARLOTTE? CHARLOTTE is a Superhuman."

"Life is generally unfair," Ebon Queen advised, albeit in a tone that made me wanna punch her for using it on my girlfriend. "I'd suggest you get used to it and move on."

"I don't suppose, while you were rattling around in the walking thunderbolt's brain, that you found anything USEFUL?" Scotty asked, changing the subject.

"Her mind is a chaotic mess of memories," Ebon admitted. "Most of them of a teenage girl, afraid of lightning, being caught in some sort of accident at a school fair. You know, your standard tragic case of getting superpowers. But I DID manage to sort through them to gain access to memories relating to Solution."

"So what have we got?" Dad inquired, looking a bit annoyed at how nonchalantly Queen described poor Thunder Cloud's life.

Ebon sighed, leaning back in her chair. "The five that have been attacking the city, code-named Thunder Cloud, Tower Woman, Edge, Frost Warning, and Sap. Their mission is to locate Superhumans who haven't gotten their powers yet and bring them back to Solution's new facility."

"Okay, I gotta admit, I'm still a little lost on why they're taking people without powers," I interjected.

Ebon looked across the room at my dad. "...He knows. Well, he's guessed, anyway."

Everybody else's heads turned to face Dad, who fidgeted slightly at the sudden attention. "...Well, I mean, these are scientists who are running experiments on Superhumans and then selling them on a black market. So then the most likely reason is they're planning to make ones with more unique and powerful abilities to score more money on the slave trade."

"And we have a winner," Queen remarked. "And yes, that's exactly what they're planning to do. Recent research on Superhumans suggests that they get their powers by absorbing foreign agents into their bodies when they're under extreme duress, and based on those agents, the powers they develop are different."

"Oh God," Olette muttered. "So then, they're probably doing crap like 'Hey, let's see what kinds of powers this person gets when we put them in the middle of a nuclear explosion'."

"Okay, nobody is getting made into Hulks on MY watch," I insisted, facing Ebon again. "Where's the facility?"

"Based on Thunder Cloud's memories, about 13 miles due southwest from Star Lake," Queen answered.

"So, the plan is, you two sneak in and break all the people they're experimenting on out?" Scotty asked.

"Except, like I said earlier, they've still got data on everyone they abducted saved away," Dad pointed out. "Rescuing the Superhumans will only delay the inevitable. The data will have to be deleted in order to keep them all safe. And I don't suppose Miss Queen here is a computer expert?"

"Fortunately for you all, I'm not, or else I would simply be THE perfect specimen of this world," Ebon snarked, folding her arms behind her back.

I frowned, realizing what all that would probably entail. I knew there was no way, with the window of time Ebon Queen and I had, that we could pull off both jobs. Ebon's eyes narrowed as she looked at me before very swiftly swiping left and then back at me. I knew where she wanted me to look, and why. I just didn't wanna accept it. But, in my head and in my heart, I knew there was only one way we could manage all of this.

"...Sweetie?" I asked, surprising Olette. "Can you do it?"

O's jaw dropped a little before she recomposed herself. "I mean, I think so? I'd need to scrub their main computer, and I'll probably need a little back-up getting there."

"I'll make sure she gets there safely," Ebon volunteered. "But, even if we wipe their files, it might not be the best idea for her to go in dressed like a schoolgirl. They'd find her again easily."

"Yeah..." I said with a sigh before standing up, picking up the sailor fuku that had been laying at my side this whole time. "Well, I guess you get your wish after all, O."

"A-And you're sure about this?" Olette replied, getting up from her seat. "About me going out there?"

"No," I admitted, smiling sadly. "But...I guess I just need to trust you, huh?"

"And you won't be going alone," Scotty offered. "Ken and I can coordinate you all from outside with Olette's laptop. We'll just need to give you the same comms I put in Cassie's mask."

Olette nodded before looking up at me with that "We need to talk" look. I exhaled hard through my nose before following her to Scotty's room, closing the door behind us. Olette took in a pretty deep breath before letting it all out, facing me and looking more than a little bit nervous.

"Look, um...about earlier," Olette started to say, looking down at the floor.

"The truth is, we were both right," I admitted, rubbing my arm. "...And, I guess we were both WRONG, too. I don't want you putting yourself at risk to try and help me, but...well, I guess if it was you who got powers-"

"Except I can't," Olette pointed out dejectedly. "If what Ebon says is true, then I'm not a Superhuman. I will never have powers like you. If I could, they'd have come after me by now."

"Doesn't matter," I insisted, carefully tilting her head to look me in the eye. "If you WERE the Superhuman, and I wasn't? I'd be doing everything I could to help you too. Only nowhere near as good as you do it."

To my relief, Olette blushed and smiled a little bit, letting me pull her into a hug as she muttered, "...Well, you look hotter in the tights than I do."

I rolled my eyes, handing O her outfit. "Speaking of, you'd better get changed."

Olette nodded, taking her outfit and starting to loosen her tie, only to stop when she realized that, not only was I not leaving, I was taking a seat on Scotty's stool. "...Um, what are you doing?"

"Giving you the same privacy you've always offered me whenever I needed to get changed into THAT," I replied, smirking.

Olette's jaw dropped indignantly. "You're only letting me do this just so you can get back at me, aren't you?"

I didn't reply. Instead, I just shrugged, and got as comfy as I could, sitting on the stool. With a scoff and a smirk, O slipped her tie off. It was at this point she decided to turn the tables on me and prove herself to be the real evil one between the two of us, as from then on, my sweet Olette became this sadistic temptress with how slow and methodical she was being with removing her outfit. Every so often, she'd even include cheeky winks over her shoulder at me, knowing it was getting me hot watching her, and that I couldn't do anything about it, what with Scotty and my dad in the next room. And Ebon Queen, too, but something told me she either wouldn't care or would basically be doing the next best thing to watching us by reading our minds while whatever happened happened.

Finally, after a while, Olette finished stripping down to her underwear, letting me get the best look at her profile that I'd ever gotten up to that point. "...Wow. And you think I'M the hot one."

O didn't say anything, only sticking her tongue out at me before putting her sailor fuku on. And I gotta admit, after seeing her slip it on? I was definitely starting to see the appeal behind this costume. I mean, I'd seen her dressed in it before, and I'd seen her in my cloak and mask, but seeing her wear both? I was beginning to think that maybe I DIDN'T look hotter in superhero tights than her.

"...So, if you're Starslip, and I'm your sidekick, does that make me, like, Ms. Star?" Olette asked, causing my shoulders to slump ever-so-slightly. "Just for tonight."

I sighed, knowing full well that was not what she meant, but also knowing when I was defeated. So, I just took her into my arms, kissed her softly on the nose, and whispered "...Fine, Ms. Star it is, you dork."


End file.
